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- MO: When officers came with an arrest warrant, def’s admission he had a firearm justified the entry
- PA: Shining flashlight into hole in a shoebox was a search; there was a REP in the closed box
- CA5: Accidentally shooting the man who disarmed the shooter from a residence was not a constitutional violation
- CA9: False evidence to arrest violates due process
- CA6: The SW affidavit here was thin, but it wasn’t completely bare bones, so GFE applies
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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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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
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"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: Franks doctrine
E.D.Cal.: Material information relevant to a Franks challenge was withheld by the gov’t, and the court finds a Brady violation
Material information relevant to a Franks challenge was withheld by the government, and the court finds a Brady violation. If known to defendant, the outcome might have been different. United States v. Sheikh, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97663 (E.D. Cal. … Continue reading
TX14: No RS for going up to parked car in parking lot without RS
The officer did not have reasonable suspicion to stop and talk to defendant sitting in a car with another in a parking lot at night doing nothing. The area was considered high crime, but there was nothing suggesting any need … Continue reading
MN: McNeely retroactive under Birchfield
“The rule announced in Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141, 133 S. Ct. 1552 (2013), that the dissipation of alcohol in the bloodstream is not a per se exigency justifying the warrantless search of a suspected impaired driver-applies retroactively when … Continue reading
Franks from IL and CA
The affidavit for this search warrant from a 1992 California murder did not include intentional falsities or misrepresentations. The affiant summarized witnesses’ versions of defendant’s description. Even if they were false, removing them from the affidavit still leaves probable cause. … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: “After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish” PC
“After editing out the incomplete and false portions of the warrant affidavit, the remaining information was insufficient to establish that Green was dead and that his death was caused by the criminal act of another person. Accordingly, the Court finds … Continue reading
M.D.Tenn.: Failure to corroborate everything, even the easy to corroborate, isn’t reckless under Franks
Defendant did not make a substantial preliminary showing that there was a reckless material statement in support of the search warrant. Moreover, “Defendant provides no authority to support his position that an officer’s failure to corroborate a fact that ‘could … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Franks challenges have two elements; failure of one is failure of the claim
The court can resolve Franks challenges by answering the easiest of the two questions, falsity or materiality, since both are required. Here, the alleged falsity wasn’t material to the probable cause determination, and that ends the inquiry. United States v. … Continue reading
CA6: Lack of PC for SW doesn’t deprive court of jurisdiction over criminal case
In seeking a successor habeas petition, inter alia: (1) all the alleged ineffective assistance claims were known at the time of the original petition; (2) “Joy’s claim that the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over his prosecution because the search-warrant … Continue reading
OH5: Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown
Walking down the middle of the street at night in a high crime area justified a patdown. State v. Hall, 2020-Ohio-2937, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 1913 (5th Dist. May 15, 2020).* Replica of Glover: State v. Anglin, 2020-Ohio-2907, 2020 Ohio … Continue reading
NY3: Even if CSLI was wrongly obtained, it was harmless error
Assuming, without deciding, that obtaining defendant’s CSLI in a knife attack case was unreasonable, it was harmless error on this record. Plenty of other evidence connected him. People v. Perez, 2020 NY Slip Op 02684, 2020 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Private party, here the owner, can be enlisted to help in computer search
Both the Fourth Amendment and Ohio law permitted law enforcement to seek private assistance in executing a search warrant, here of a computer, and the search was conducted by the company that owned the computer. United States v. Powell, 2020 … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Innocent explanations for pole camera evidence to get SW didn’t make a Franks challenge because there still was PC
Defendant’s innocent explanations for what pole camera videos showed that were not in the affidavit for search warrant do not amount to a Franks challenge. There still was probable cause. United States v. Joye, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66463 (E.D. … Continue reading
D.N.J.: There were material misrepresentations in the affidavit for a vehicle SW, but they are mooted by the automobile exception
The validity of the search warrant for defendant’s car was irrelevant where the automobile exception applied. Therefore, defendant’s Franks challenge is moot despite the fact there were material misrepresentations in the affidavit because the officers were trying to keep a … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Ambiguities in affidavit for SW not a Franks violation
Alleged ambiguities in the affidavit for the search warrant didn’t show a Franks violation where there clearly was probable cause. United States v. Jenkins, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 69247 (E.D. Ky. Apr. 21, 2020). A 911 call from a cell … Continue reading
FL2: Search incident of backpack for being in park after hours invalid
Defendant was stopped for sitting in a park with his bicycle after hours, a violation of a county ordinance. The search incident of his backpack for this offense violated the Florida Constitution. Booker v. State, 2020 Fla. App. LEXIS 5718 … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Merely saying in a motion to suppress def was arrested without probable cause doesn’t state grounds
Defendant does not offer further context or analysis. Based upon his failure to fully address this issue, the Defendant’s argument regarding an alleged illegal search and seizure is denied without prejudice. See United States v. Collins, 796 F.3d 829, 836 … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: SW for apt and seizure of computers and cell phones includes power to search them later
A search warrant to search an apartment and seize computers and cell phones includes the power to search them later. United States v. Quinonez, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55789 (S.D. Fla. Mar. 30, 2020). The officer’s statement that the CI’s … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Franks challenge fails because of complete lack of materiality
Moreover, Perkins did not — and cannot — make a preliminary showing that any alleged ‘false statement or material omission [was] necessary to the probable cause finding in the affidavit.’ If the Court were to strike every contested statement from … Continue reading