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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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--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: Protective sweep
PA: Firing an assault rifle in your house justifies a protective sweep
After defendant fired an assault rifle in his house, the police were called. A protective sweep to see if anyone was injured was reasonable. Commonwealth v. Coughlin, 2018 PA Super 304, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1221 (Nov. 14, 2018). “‘Probable … Continue reading
IN: Backpack of arrested motorcyclist was subject to SI
Defendant was stopped on a motorcycle and had a backpack. An arrest warrant was found for defendant, and his backpack was subject to a search incident. State v. Crager, 2018 Ind. App. LEXIS 385 (Oct. 25, 2018). There was no … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Arrest inside the door permitted protective sweep
The arrest of the codefendant inside house permitted a protective sweep. United States v. Jones, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 166347 (N.D. Okla. Sep. 27, 2018). “These nine ineffective assistance of counsel claims are properly evaluated under the Strickland standard, meaning … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Protective sweep led to plain view of firearm and cell phone
During a protective sweep, a firearm and cell phones were seen, and a search warrant was later issued for the firearm. His cell phone was in plain view and seized when defendant was arrested. The officers came back for the … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Shots fired 911 call and citizen report led to car; protective sweep of back seat was permissible
Chicago police officers received a man on the street report (treated as anonymous but reliable) that shots were just fired from a particular vehicle. There were also 911 calls about the shots. The vehicle was shortly seen, and that was … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: The apparent layout and size of house and speed with which a protective sweep was conducted shows it reasonable
The place of arrest at the threshold, the layout of the house as seen from the front door, the size of the house, and the speed with which the protective sweep (one minute and 15-30 seconds) shows that it was … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Davis GFE applied to GVR after Byrd, as happened in Byrd
Defendant’s case was GVR’d after Byrd. On remand, the court finds that the government’s good faith reliance on prior precedent makes this search valid, and the court notes that the same thing happened to Byrd on remand. United States v. … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Protective sweep doesn’t require actual knowledge somebody else is inside
The officers conducting a protective sweep do not have to know that there’s somebody else inside. The question is whether it is reasonable on the totality. They can rely on their experience in drug cases, defendant’s priors for drugs, and … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Unmarked pill bottle with apparent crack in it was in plain view during protective sweep after arrest in house
Officers came in defendant’s house with an arrest warrant for cocaine delivery. During a protective sweep, an unmarked pill bottle was seen and picked up. It was immediately apparent to the officers that the contents was likely crack cocaine and … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: When police come to def’s house with arrest warrant, cotenant’s denial he’s home isn’t binding on officers
Officers had good information where defendant lived, and they came with an arrest warrant. His cotenant denied he was there, which the officers did not have to take at face value. One FBI agent testified that cotenants frequently lie about … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Protective sweep here was based on officers’ experience and not on any specific facts and was still reasonable
The officers here had no specific information there was anybody else in defendant’s house when they did a protective sweep. Nevertheless, the sweep is reasonable. Officers are also entitled to draw on their experience in determining whether a protective sweep … Continue reading
VA: Gun in plain view left in car was seizable under Long
Defendant fled from a car, and a gun was in plain view in the car. The officer acted reasonably in searching the car to secure the firearm under Michigan v. Long [aside from abandonment of the car] because defendant could … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Protective sweep valid to look for other pressure cooker bombs; parent has presumptive apparent authority to consent to search of adult child’s room
Defendant was suspected of making a pressure cooker bomb, which was found. (1) A protective sweep was proper to determine whether there were others in the house. (2) The house was owned by defendant’s father, and defendant merely lived there. … Continue reading
Two on protective sweep
On plain error review, the protective sweep was reasonable. The officers had information that a suggested second person could have been in the house, and he or she hadn’t been found or found not to exist. United States v. Ford, … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Emergency aid exception doesn’t apply to justify entry where victims are accounted for outside
The government didn’t meet its burden of showing the emergency aid exception applied where all the purported victims were accounted for and outside the apartment they wanted to search. The protective sweep doctrine as an alternative doesn’t apply here because … Continue reading
GA: Allegedly illegally seized journals the state agreed not to use could be used as prior inconsistent statements when def testified
Defendant’s journals were allegedly illegally seized, and the state agreed not to use them. Defendant testified, and the state sought to put the journals into evidence for impeachment as a prior inconsistent statement. When the trial court allowed it, defendant … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Entry for protective sweep with gun drawn wasn’t per se a “forceful entry”; announcement unnecessary
The officer in this case did not have to knock-and-announce to make a protective sweep after defendant was arrested. The officer testified that he did. Entering with gun drawn doesn’t make it a “forceful entry.” United States v. Israel, 2018 … Continue reading
CA11: Protective sweep was justified by an extra car out front and voices from inside
A protective sweep was justified by an extra car out front and voices from inside. United States v. Ratcliff, 2018 U.S. App. LEXIS 5443 (11th Cir. Feb. 28, 2018). Officer “knocked” on defendant’s tent at a campsite to talk to … Continue reading