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by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
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General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
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Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
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F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
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)
ACLU on privacy
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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
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) -
“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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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: Ineffective assistance
D.D.C.: Use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial
The use of biometrics to access a cell phone is not testimonial. United States v. Blythe, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231852 (D.D.C. Nov. 23, 2025) (interesting read). Just because defense counsel didn’t appeal a losing Fourth Amendment issue doesn’t make … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Fact drug dog wasn’t trained on fentanyl wasn’t defect when he alerted on it and cocaine
The drug dog wasn’t trained on fentanyl but alerted on it. It was trained on cocaine and did alert on it. That doesn’t make the dog unreliable. After probable cause developed, using the key fob to open the car wasn’t … Continue reading
OH5: Pleading guilty without seeing SW materials stated enough to get post-conviction hearing
The state’s plea offer was to plead without getting any discovery. Defendant adequately pled defense counsel was ineffective for counseling this, including waiving getting access to the search warrant materials. The trial court erred in denying a hearing. State v. … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Murder for hire scheme was exigency for entry; SW issued a day late not automatically stale
A murder for hire scheme was exigency for a warrantless search. Here, the officers thought the firearm would be moved imminently on December 31, 2024, but the warrant wasn’t signed until after midnight January 1, 2025. It wasn’t automatically stale, … Continue reading
D.N.D.: Tactical decision not to raise every 4A issue def can think up
Not raising before conviction all the conceivable Fourth Amendment claims defendant thought were useful was a reasonable tactical decision. Perez v. United States, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 220629 (D.N.D. Nov. 7, 2025). “As the trial court noted, approximately one minute … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Frisk that went inside defendant’s pants was unreasonable
A frisk that went inside defendant’s pants was unreasonable. United States v. Davis, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 202764 (E.D. Mich. Aug. 20, 2025). When a stop revealed a holster when the defendant got out of the vehicle, a further intrusion … Continue reading
CA2: Warrantless search of ptf’s Uber app history was a 4A violation
Warrantless search of a cell phone to access plaintiff’s Uber history stated a Fourth Amendment claim. Etere v. Nassau Cty., 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 25753 (2d Cir. Oct. 3, 2025). Even if defense counsel was ineffective for not challenging the … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Geofence warrant slightly different than Chatrie still in good faith
This geofence warrant was slightly different than Chatrie’s. Still, the good faith exception applies. “In this case, law enforcement acted pursuant to a warrant that was not so facially deficient that the executing officers could not reasonably presume it to … Continue reading
E.D.La.: AirBnb permittees have no REP in information already voluntarily provided to city
AirBnb and its permittees don’t have a reasonable expectation of privacy in information that was already essentially turned over to the city in getting permits in the first place. Bodin v. City of New Orleans, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 174172 … Continue reading
Six on habeas
Petitioner’s habeas claims include a Fourth Amendment claim barred by Stone. Steward v. Napoli, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 169230 (S.D.N.Y. July 31, 2025).* Same: Bogan v. Christiansen, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 22218 (6th Cir. Aug. 27, 2025). The state court … Continue reading
DE: No IAC claim where challenged evidence never used at trial
There is no ineffective assistance of counsel claim for not pursuing a Fourth Amendment claim where the product of the search was not used at trial. State v. Finney, 2025 Del. Super. LEXIS 404 (Aug. 18, 2025). Crime victims are … Continue reading
Four on IAC claims
Appellant doesn’t get a CoA on his claim he could have appealed the denial of the suppression motion despite the guilty plea. United States v. Penton, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 20172 (5th Cir. Aug. 7, 2025).* “Thus, Loston’s claim fails … Continue reading
NC: Nine-day delay between shooting and SW for gun wasn’t stale
A nine-day delay between a shooting and the search warrant for defendant’s place to look for the weapon wasn’t stale. The standard for timeliness is simply common sense. State v. Stevens, 2025 N.C. App. LEXIS 489 (Aug. 6, 2025).* A … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: Not asking for hearing on motion to suppress not IAC
2255 petitioner faults his lawyer for not asking for a hearing on his motion to suppress, which lost, but he doesn’t show that it mattered. Moreover, this is really just taking a shot at recharacterizing the motion to suppress, but … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: No REP from ALPR on public roads
No reasonable expectation of privacy from Automatic License Plate Readers on public roads under Carpenter. United States v. Slaybaugh, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146107 (M.D. Ala. July 10, 2025). A mere passenger has no standing in the car he’s riding … Continue reading
OH9: Grant of motion to suppress off bodycam video reversed, officer’s testimony not inconsistent
The granting of the motion to suppress is reversed as not based on competent or credible evidence. The bodycam doesn’t fully support the officer’s testimony there were furtive movements before he got up to the driver’s window, but the bodycam … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Being a longtime member of a group that shared CP supported PC for defendant’s devices
“Given the length of Estrada’s membership in the two groups, the volume of files depicting child pornography shared during Estrada’s membership, and the detailed description of a file shared while Estrada was a participant in one of the groups, the … Continue reading
TX7: SW sworn to before wrong officer still in GF
The search warrant affidavit was not sworn to before a judge as required by the statute, but it was sworn to before an officer with the authority to take oaths. That was sufficient for the good faith exception to apply. … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: 4A IAC shown by 2255 petitioner; arrest lacked all probable cause
2255 petitioner prevails on a Fourth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim. There clearly was no probable cause for defendant’s arrest and car search. United States v. Henry, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 133252 (N.D. Ind. July 10, 2025).* The government … Continue reading
CA8: Social media video of SW target shooting guns justified no-knock entry
Social media videos of a target of the warrant shooting guns viewed before obtaining the warrant justified a no-knock warrant. Davenport v. City of Little Rock, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 16540 (8th Cir. July 7, 2025). Plaintiff’s various claims, including … Continue reading