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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)
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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
S.D.Ohio: Def’s 50% downward departure on USSG sentencing range makes IAC for not arguing 4A at sentencing moot; harmless error at worst
Where defendant got a 50% downward USSG departure for a 360-life offense, he received no ineffective assistance of counsel for failure to argue a firearm should have been suppressed that led only to a 2 point USSG enhancement. United States … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Defense of denial of possession in drug case meant no assertion of standing to challenge the search, so no IAC
Since the defense was not my dope, not filing a motion to suppress where standing would have to be pled and shown was not ineffective assistance of counsel. United States v. Robinson, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 52526 (S.D. Ohio Mar. … Continue reading
OH4: Off-duty police officer can make a traffic stop
An off-duty police officer has the authority to make a traffic stop. Defendant cites no law that says they can’t. In addition, he had probable to make the stop. State v. Netter, 2024-Ohio-1068, 2024 Ohio App. LEXIS 997 (4th Dist. … Continue reading
CA11: Even if Carpenter applied to license plate readers, it happened before Carpenter was decided so good faith applies
Even if Carpenter applied to automated license plate readers, it was decided the day after this happened, so the good faith exception would apply in any event. In addition, the officer’s testimony about it was lay testimony under F.R.E. 702. … Continue reading
CA10: Evidence obtained by state in prosecution later barred by McGirt still with good faith
Defendant was originally prosecuted in Oklahoma state court for murder. After McGirt v. Oklahoma, he moved to set aside the Oklahoma conviction as being obtained without jurisdiction. In federal court, he moved to suppress the evidence obtained by the state … Continue reading
WV: Police looking at the exterior of defendant’s car was not a search and violated no REP
Police looking at the exterior of defendant’s car was not a search and violated no reasonable expectation of privacy. State v. Estep, 2024 W. Va. LEXIS 92 (Feb. 20, 2024).* The trial court granted a Franks motion, but the state … Continue reading
FL2: Suppression under Franks reversed; not material to PC
Defendant established that there were false statements in the affidavit for warrant that ran the full spectrum from negligence to likely intentionality. But probable cause remained, even excluding what was challenged. “While the temptation to advance the prophylactic purpose of … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: The SW failed particularity, but the govt proved inevitable discovery
“Defendant seeks to suppress all evidence seized from the subsequent 2018 search in this case because he argues the 2018 warrant was unconstitutionally overbroad. Although this Court concludes the 2018 search warrant violated the Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement because it … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Affidavit for SW for def being a prohibited person for firearms possession doesn’t have to allege interstate commerce nexus
A warrant was issued for defendant’s home in California for proof of travel to the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. Officers found firearms and defendant was a prohibited person because of domestic violence orders. On the firearms warrant, it … Continue reading
WV: “Mobile cellular phones” particular enough
“The first warrant authorized the seizure of ‘mobile cellular phones,’ clearly imparting sufficient particularity to allow the officer to know that petitioner’s phone was to be seized. Where the warrant clearly authorized seizure of the phone, there can be no … Continue reading
D.Me.: SW affidavit mentioned a licensing complaint against defendant doctor, but omission that the complaint was resolved favorably gets a Franks hearing
Defendant is a D.O. accused of over prescribing. She made her substantial preliminary showing to get a Franks hearing because the affiant omitted from the affidavit for warrant that the licensing authority considered the same claims and found she acted … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def’s PC suppression argument showed a trial defense, not an argment for suppression
Defendant’s objection to the R&R isn’t enough to overrule the USMJ’s finding there was probable cause. Defendant presents a trial defense, not a defense to probable cause. United States v. Cole, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 752 (D. Minn. Jan. 3, … Continue reading
VA: Stop of men on street matching BOLO for other officers to arrive in two minutes was reasonable
The first officer to encounter defendant was responding to a BOLO of suspects on the street related to a nearby home invasion. They were close enough to the description. He stopped them and held them about two minutes until other … Continue reading
AR: HBO film crew ride-along on drug raid doesn’t lead to suppression
An HBO film crew was doing a ride-along with the DEA and local DTF officers for the making of “Meth Storm.” Defendant raises via post-conviction that the ride-along film crew violated the Fourth Amendment and the state constitution. The court … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Federal wildlife officer can make speeding stop in national wildlife refuge
A federal wildlife officer has the authority to make a stop for speeding in a national wildlife refuge under 50 C.F.R. § 27.31(a), (d). [Virginia v. Moore goes unmentioned: The stop would not violate the Fourth Amendment in any event.] … Continue reading
DE: Mandamus can’t be used as interlocutory appeal of denial of motion to suppress
A petition for writ of mandamus can’t be used as an interlocutory appeal of denial of a motion to suppress. [Mandamus isn’t anywhere near a possible remedy.] In re Taylor for A Writ of Mandamus, 2023 Del. LEXIS 400 (Dec. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Items unreasonably seized under SW as outside its scope still not returned because they are forfeitable
Some of the items seized under the warrant were named or were covered by plain view when the police got inside. Some are excludable, but they aren’t returned because the government intends to forfeit. United States v. Abdul-Latif, 2023 U.S. … Continue reading
OH8: Extraterritorial stop by LEO doesn’t violate 4A, and exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to statutory violations
An extraterritorial stop by an officer does not violate the Fourth Amendment. The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply to statutory violations, here especially because of public safety concerns. City of Fairview Park v. Bowman, 2023-Ohio-4210, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS 4047 (8th … Continue reading