September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (then discontinued)
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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com
Search and Seizure (6th ed. 2025)
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-26,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 600,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 50,000 posts since 2003 (29,000 on WordPress as of 12/31/25) -
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Fourth Amendment cases, citations, and links -
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me -
"Life is not a matter of holding good cards, but of playing a poor hand well."
–Josh Billings (pseudonym of Henry Wheeler Shaw), Josh Billings on Ice, and Other Things (1868) (erroneously attributed to Robert Louis Stevenson, among others) -
“I am still learning.”
—Domenico Giuntalodi (but misattributed to Michelangelo Buonarroti (common phrase throughout 1500's)). -
"Love work; hate mastery over others; and avoid intimacy with the government."
—Shemaya, in the Thalmud -
"It is a pleasant world we live in, sir, a very pleasant world. There are bad people in it, Mr. Richard, but if there were no bad people, there would be no good lawyers."
—Charles Dickens, “The Old Curiosity Shop ... With a Frontispiece. From a Painting by Geo. Cattermole, Etc.” 255 (1848) -
"A system of law that not only makes certain conduct criminal, but also lays down rules for the conduct of the authorities, often becomes complex in its application to individual cases, and will from time to time produce imperfect results, especially if one's attention is confined to the particular case at bar. Some criminals do go free because of the necessity of keeping government and its servants in their place. That is one of the costs of having and enforcing a Bill of Rights. This country is built on the assumption that the cost is worth paying, and that in the long run we are all both freer and safer if the Constitution is strictly enforced."
—Williams v. Nix, 700 F. 2d 1164, 1173 (8th Cir. 1983) (Richard Sheppard Arnold, J.), rev'd Nix v. Williams, 467 US. 431 (1984). -
"The criminal goes free, if he must, but it is the law that sets him free. Nothing can destroy a government more quickly than its failure to observe its own laws, or worse, its disregard of the charter of its own existence."
—Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 659 (1961). -
"Any costs the exclusionary rule are costs imposed directly by the Fourth Amendment."
—Yale Kamisar, 86 Mich.L.Rev. 1, 36 n. 151 (1987). -
"There have been powerful hydraulic pressures throughout our history that bear heavily on the Court to water down constitutional guarantees and give the police the upper hand. That hydraulic pressure has probably never been greater than it is today."
— Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 39 (1968) (Douglas, J., dissenting). -
"The great end, for which men entered into society, was to secure their property."
—Entick v. Carrington, 19 How.St.Tr. 1029, 1066, 95 Eng. Rep. 807 (C.P. 1765) -
"It is a fair summary of history to say that the safeguards of liberty have frequently been forged in controversies involving not very nice people. And so, while we are concerned here with a shabby defrauder, we must deal with his case in the context of what are really the great themes expressed by the Fourth Amendment."
—United States v. Rabinowitz, 339 U.S. 56, 69 (1950) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting) -
"The course of true law pertaining to searches and seizures, as enunciated here, has not–to put it mildly–run smooth."
—Chapman v. United States, 365 U.S. 610, 618 (1961) (Frankfurter, J., concurring). -
"A search is a search, even if it happens to disclose nothing but the bottom of a turntable."
—Arizona v. Hicks, 480 U.S. 321, 325 (1987) -
"For the Fourth Amendment protects people, not places. What a person knowingly exposes to the public, even in his own home or office, is not a subject of Fourth Amendment protection. ... But what he seeks to preserve as private, even in an area accessible to the public, may be constitutionally protected."
—Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347, 351 (1967) -
“Experience should teach us to be most on guard to protect liberty when the Government’s purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded
rulers. The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.”
—United States v. Olmstead, 277 U.S. 438, 479 (1925) (Brandeis, J., dissenting)
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“Liberty—the freedom from unwarranted intrusion by government—is as easily lost through insistent nibbles by government officials who seek to do their jobs too well as by those whose purpose it is to oppress; the piranha can be as deadly as the shark.”
—United States v. $124,570, 873 F.2d 1240, 1246 (9th Cir. 1989) -
"You can't always get what you want / But if you try sometimes / You just might find / You get what you need."
—Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, Let it Bleed (album, 1969) -
"In Germany, they first came for the communists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for
the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came
for me–and by that time there was nobody left to speak up."
—Martin Niemöller (1945) [he served seven years in a concentration camp] -
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.”
– John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper -
"The point of the Fourth Amendment, which often is not grasped by zealous officers, is not that it denies law enforcement the support of the usual inferences which reasonable men draw from evidence. Its protection consists in requiring that those inferences be drawn by a neutral and detached magistrate instead of being judged by the officer engaged in the often competitive enterprise of ferreting out crime."
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948) -
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
Website design by Wally Waller, Colorado Springs. 
Category Archives: Probable cause
NY: Shoplifting custodial arrest justified impoundment and towing of def’s car
Defendant drove to a store and was custodially arrested there for shoplifting. Towing and inventory of his vehicle off their parking lot was reasonable. A valid inventory followed. People v. Tardi, 2016 NY Slip Op 07822, 2016 N.Y. LEXIS 3535 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: In NV, a MMJ state, smell of marijuana is still PC, and legal possession doesn’t have to be discounted
Nevada is a medical marijuana state, and LEOs don’t have to discount legal possession of marijuana before continuing a stop based on smell. United States v. Harris, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157902 (D.Nev. June 30, 2016), adopted, 2016 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
IL: Heroin overdose victim injected with Narcan is PC to arrest for possession
When the police come upon a heroin overdose and inject Narcan, there is probable cause to arrest the defendant for possession. People v. Teper, 2016 IL App (2d) 160063, 2016 Ill. App. LEXIS 794 (Nov. 17, 2016):
MA: Officer’s observation of obvious drug transaction by car pulling up on street was PC
The experienced police officer’s observation of defendant reaching into a car with Maine LPN was consistent with “car meets” for drug sales, and that was probable cause. Commonwealth v. Sanders, 2016 Mass. App. LEXIS 164 (Nov. 15, 2016). Plaintiff complained … Continue reading
MD: Dog sniff two months earlier didn’t justify search incident on arrest
Defendant’s car was subjected to a drug dog sniff in March 2014 finding drugs, but he wasn’t arrested. Arrest warrants were issued later, and two months later he was arrested. A search incident for drugs wasn’t valid two months later, … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Cursory look at cell phone that revealed nothing doesn’t preclude PC for SW
A cursory search of a codefendant’s phone produced nothing and a cursory look at defendant’s phone didn’t either. That does not, however, preclude a finding of probable cause to believe that there was evidence on the phone for a search … Continue reading
NY co.ct.: Noting split in case law, slight smell of MJ in the passenger compartment generally doesn’t justify a search of the trunk; here, however, trunk accessible from inside car
Noting a split in authorities, the court finds that the smell of marijuana in the passenger compartment [here, coming off the rental agreement] does not give probable cause to search the trunk. Here, however, the trunk was accessible from the … Continue reading
IA: All specifics of lack of PC need to be raised in trial court; here, this argument was waived
Defendant was stopped for having one headlight. The specific claim that there was no probable cause for pulling him over because he wasn’t on a public road was never presented to the trial court, and it’s waived. State v. Tusler, … Continue reading
OH5: Raw marijuana shake around in the front area of the car was PC for a search
Raw marijuana shake around in the front area of the car was probable cause for a search. State v. James, 2016-Ohio-7660, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 4531 (5th Dist. Oct. 31, 2016). “In conclusion, Pankey is incorrect to present this case … Continue reading
TX14: Dashcam video didn’t support officer’s version and appellate court won’t reverse suppression order
The dashcam video doesn’t support the state’s contention defendant was weaving before the stop, and there is no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s findings suppressing the stop for a “welfare check” that led to a DUI arrest. State … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Admission of MJ in the trunk was PC; officer didn’t have to check on MMJ prescription
An admission defendant had marijuana in the trunk didn’t require the officer to check into whether defendant had a prescription for it. United States v. Robbins, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 153558 (S.D.Cal. Nov. 3, 2016). Defense counsel did, in fact, … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def’s sister had keys to his storage units, and inquiry by the police led them to reasonably believe she had apparent authority
Defendant’s sister still had apparent authority to consent to search of his storage unit even though she didn’t know the access codes and she’d never been there. After inquiry by the police, it was reasonable for them to believe that … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Omission of city and county from address in SW wasn’t fatal where place to be searched was still apparent
The fact the affidavit had the address but no city and county doesn’t violate the particularity requirement. Yes, it would have been better to have done so, but the officers still could find the place they were looking for, so … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: SW for human body parts wasn’t a general warrant
Defendant was accused of unlawfully trafficking in human body parts, and the search warrant for his premises for body parts was not a general warrant. United States v. Rathburn, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140562 (E.D.Mich. Oct. 11, 2016). [It seems … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Def could file second motion to suppress on different ground; this one prevails for lack of PC and no GFE
Defendant filed a motion to suppress on one ground and lost. He was not prohibited by law of the case from arguing the different issue of a complete lack of probable cause in a subsequent motion, on which he prevails. … Continue reading
MA: PC showing was close, but, essentially, ties go in support of the warrant
The trial court held that the affidavit for the search warrant did not show probable cause under Aguilar-Spinelli (still followed in Massachusetts), but the court of appeals disagrees and reverses. There were direct police observations that corroborated the informant’s story. … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Affidavit for SW did not mention CP but SW did; seizure of CP suppressed
Defendant was a suspect in identity theft and failure to register as a sex offender. The search warrant affidavit supported those offenses, but it also included child pornography yet no facts supporting a search for child pornography. Once in the … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Fact of a sex crime against a child does not, without more, mean there is CP on def’s computer
Mere evidence of forcible sodomy on a child does not ipso facto mean that there is probable cause to believe that there will be child pornography on the defendant’s computer, too. Only one circuit would make that inferential link (CA8), … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Another Playpen warrant upheld
Another Playpen warrant upheld. United States v. Allain, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 134605 (D.Mass. Sept. 29, 2016).* This white collar case warrant was based on probable cause and was sufficiently particular. Good faith also would sustain the warrant. United States … Continue reading
CA8: Detention of def’s semi for SW on PC was reasonable
Defendant was not in custody in this child pornography investigation when he was interrogated, and he even left the scene. “In light of the background investigation and Zavesky’s statements, law enforcement officers had probable cause to detain Zavesky’s semi-truck after … Continue reading