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- IN: Overdose call led to EMS telling police what they saw and that led to SW
- NY1: A mental health defense waives REP in the medical records about it
- MA: When a likely Franks violation comes out at trial, def gets to reopen the suppression issue
- RI: Challenge to one sentence of 8-page cell phone records SW fails; totality has to be considered
- WaPo: Subpoena bill would curtail secretive tool used to target government critics
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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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (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: Ineffective assistance
OH2: Home safe could be searched under probation search waiver
The probation search of defendant’s home safe was reasonable under Knights, Griffin, and state law. State v. Apple, 2024-Ohio-2286, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 2166 (2d Dist. June 14, 2024). There was reasonable suspicion to stop defendant in a car, and … Continue reading
CA6: No REP from ATF getting access to def’s Instagram posts with false name
Defendant is a felon who posted to Instagram pictures of him firing guns. The ATF got access to his account, and he had no reasonable expectation of privacy in it, even where the ATF agent used a fake name to … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: “Furtive movements can support reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed, justifying a frisk.”
“Furtive movements can support reasonable suspicion that an individual is armed, justifying a frisk. Moorefield, 111 F.3d at 14. An officer ‘need not be absolutely certain’ that movements are an attempt to ‘hide narcotics or a firearm’ for ‘the issue … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: GFE of law at the time of the search meant no IAC
“Counsel did not perform deficiently when they raised the Fourth Amendment argument [under applicable law at the time], even though this Court and the Seventh Circuit found that the good faith applied.” Castro-Aguirre v. United States, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
GA: Merely having a traffic accident doesn’t justify SW for car for cause
Probable cause didn’t exist for a warrant to search defendant’s car after a traffic accident for the cause of the accident. “Here, given the circumstances as they existed when the search warrant was issued, we find that the magistrate did … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Drug dog touching car door handle with nose isn’t unreasonable search
The drug dog touching the vehicle door handle with its nose was not an unreasonable search. United States v. Green, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88401 (D. Kan. May 16, 2024). Defendant’s 2255 wasn’t timely. “Even if Williams’s motion were timely, … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Smell of MJ still PC in a California National Park even though not under state law
The smell of marijuana from a car is no longer probable cause under California law, but it is still in a national park. United States v. Tolmosoff, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83134 (E.D. Cal. May 7, 2024). Defendant wasn’t seized … Continue reading
WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
The state got defendant to lick an envelope and hand it over as part of a ruse. His DNA matched to a cold case. That was not an unreasonable search. State v. Vannieuwenhoven, 2024 Wisc. App. LEXIS 349 (Apr. 30, … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Motion to suppress was near denial of standing by disavowing relationship with premises
The affidavit showed a substantial basis for concluding that drug evidence would be found in the search of the apartment. [The motion to suppress sought to distance defendant from the place. Came close to being a denial of standing, but … Continue reading
CA9: Asking detainee about parole status is reasonable
Asking a detainee about his parole status reasonably relates to officer safety and imposes a negligible burden on the detainee. United States v. Ramirez, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 9388 (9th Cir. Apr. 18, 2024). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not … Continue reading
CA7: Hotel room vacated by tenant could be searched by hotel management
A hotel room search by the hotel manager after defendant’s tenancy expired was reasonable as a private search and under state law. He was also on parole, but the district court didn’t even mention that. United States v. Gay, 2024 … Continue reading
CA7: No IAC in failure to more aggressively pursue Franks challenge
Defense counsel acted reasonably in how he pursued defendant’s suppression motion founded on Franks in not arguing more stringently for bad faith. Here, defendant was charged in state court with child pornography. His motion to suppress the search was granted. … Continue reading
OH2: Police responding to report of shot dog who heard an animal had exigency to enter the curtilage
“Based upon the evidence presented, we conclude the trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress. The search of the home and surrounding premises was reasonable because the officers believed an injured animal was on the premises … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: GJ subpoena for cell phone passcode quashed.
The government’s grand jury subpoena for defendant’s cell phone passcode is quashed because it seeks testimonial information in violation of the Fifth Amendment showing defendant’s knowledge of the contents of the phone. “The Court denies Gray’s Rule 41(g) motion. Even … Continue reading
CA9: Officer stopping to check on an already stopped motorcycle wasn’t a seizure
Defendant’s motorcycle was already stopped on the side of the road. The officer pulling up to check on him wasn’t a seizure. United States v. Melgoza, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 8384 (9th Cir. Apr. 8, 2024). FISA warrants have a … Continue reading
CA9: No IAC for not filing a motion to suppress email attachments captured by email provider under ToS
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not filing a motion to suppress because it was reasonable to conclude defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in email attachments with the email provider where the terms of service also said there was … Continue reading
CA5: PC showing for house in affidavit for SW also supported automobile exception search of car elsewhere
The affidavit for the warrant for defendant’s house also provided nexus to defendant’s car. When it was driven away from the house just before the search, the police decided to stop and search it. That search was valid under the … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def’s IAC claim was frivolous
Defendant’s ineffective assistance of counsel claim, including his Fourth Amendment claim, raised at sentencing was essentially frivolous. Defense counsel negotiated a time served disposition that defendants rejected. The minimum punishment after the guilty verdict was life. The Fourth Amendment claims … Continue reading
CA8: Police placed a hidden camera across from def’s apt door and used information from it in showing PC for SW; there was PC without it
“Darron Mayo appeals the denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained from a hidden camera police officers placed across from his apartment door. Officers used some of the evidence obtained from the camera in a probable cause affidavit supporting … Continue reading