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- CO: DNA could be seized from trash
- CA8: Nebraska statute allowing SWs to cross state lines doesn’t violate 4A
- WA: Sweat patch as condition of release violated state constitution’s privacy provision
- E.D.Mich.: Michigan liquor control administrative searches here don’t comply with Burger/Patel
- Reason: Border Agents Searched His Phone 5 Times Without a Warrant. He’s Asking the Supreme Court To Put a Stop to It.
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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)
--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
OH7: Search incident proper after concealed weapon found on def
Defendant was searched and arrested for a concealed weapon. That did not prohibit the officers from further searching his personal effects in his clothes. State v. Zepernick, 2021-Ohio-719, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 724 (7th Dist. Mar. 4, 2021). 2254 petitioner’s … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Govt moots motion to suppress by deciding not to use challenged evidence
When the defendant files a motion to suppress and the government elects not to use the evidence at trial, the motion becomes moot. United States v. Bowers, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45445 (W.D. Mo. Mar. 11, 2021). Defendant’s 2255 for … Continue reading
TX13: State showed exigency for BAC without SW because it would have taken one of two officers off-duty
The state showed exigency in not getting a search warrant for defendant’s BAC after a serious car crash left him unconscious. It would have taken hours to get the warrant back then [2013] and it would have taken one of … Continue reading
CA7: Showing up for a controlled buy justifies automobile exception search
A prior controlled buy with defendant showing up for another one justifies a vehicle search under the automobile exception. United States v. Smith, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 6166 (7th Cir. Mar. 3, 2021). The trial court credited the officer’s testimony … Continue reading
MA: No REP in unlocked basement of apt building
After a police foot chase, officers entered an unlocked basement of an apartment building and found a firearm that looked like one they were looking for. Defendant can’t show a reasonable expectation of privacy in the basement because everybody in … Continue reading
CA10: Nexus shown to AZ residence where additional records were found
A search of a pain management doctor’s Arizona residence was based on nexus to his Wyoming medical practice. The government showed that patient records were in both places. United States v. Khan, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 5611 (10th Cir. Feb. … Continue reading
N.-M.: Military def counsel ineffective for not making a suppression motion that would have been granted
Military defense counsel was ineffective for not challenging the command authorized inspection of his off-base private housing. The exigency justification proffered below had no factual basis for a search of defendant’s closet where a small grow operation was found. The … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Def counsel wasn’t obliged to argue a Franks issue to the jury at trial; that’s presumptively strategy
Defense counsel wasn’t obliged to raise a Franks issue in closing argument. That’s quintessentially a strategic decision. “The Supreme Court has recognized that ‘judicious selection of arguments for summation is a core exercise of defense counsel’s discretion,’ and counsel ‘is … Continue reading
OH8: Defense counsel made logical choice to forego suppression for benefit to merits of case
Defense counsel made a logical choice to exploit certain facts from the search in defense on the merits. “Given the tumultuous relationship between Lucas and Parker, given the fact that she shot at him through a door, given his admitted … Continue reading
IA: Terry stop questioning doesn’t require a Miranda warning until it gets confrontational
Terry stop questioning doesn’t require a Miranda warning until it gets confrontational and adversarial and the detainee isn’t free to leave. State v. Decanini-Hernandez, 2021 Iowa App. LEXIS 172 (Feb. 17, 2021). Defense counsel wasn’t shown to be ineffective for … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: Fact an officer knew of suspect from prior contact doesn’t preclude running name and dob for warrants
The fact an officer knew a suspect from prior interactions doesn’t mean that the officer can’t run the name and dob for warrants. New Covenant Church v. Futch, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22523 (S.D. Ga. Feb. 5, 2021). Defense counsel … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Week old crime justified detention on RS
Defendant was a passenger in a car stopped and he was suspected of being involved in a shooting a week earlier. Even this old crime was sufficient for reasonable suspicion to extend the stop. United States v. Seymour, 2021 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: No REP as to pole camera surveillance, one in an apt building hallway
Two surveillance cameras were installed; one on a pole, one in a hallway of an apartment building. Defendant, a visitor, had no reasonable expectation of privacy. A codefendant already litigated this motion and lost, and he should have acknowledged the … Continue reading
CA4: When lower court decides both PC and GFE, on appeal either one can be decided
When the district court decides both probable cause for issuance of the warrant and the good faith exception applies, the court of appeals need only decide one; here good faith. “Because our review of the record demonstrates that the affidavit … Continue reading
OH7: Defense counsel’s strategic choice to not challenge search was reasonable; he exploited it in cross of the officers
Defense counsel’s strategic choice to not challenge a search and embrace the result of the search for cross-examination was reasonable. And it was justified because it resulted in acquittal on a big count. State v. Baker, 2020-Ohio-7023, 2020 Ohio App. … Continue reading
CA10: Code enforcement officer coming to ptf’s door to talk to him didn’t violate curtilage
A city code enforcement officer who came to plaintiff’s door for a couple of minutes to attempt to talk to him about a sign code violation did not violate the curtilage. Clark v. City of Williamsburg, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Def counsel not ineffective for not arguing Carpenter protects bank records because it doesn’t
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in bank records such that the government needed a warrant to get them. Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not arguing that there was such an interest. “Carpenter did not overrule Miller but merely … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def’s car that others were known to drive being outside house of another wasn’t reasonable belief he was there
Officers did not have a reasonable belief defendant was on the premises of another just because he was seen there a month earlier and what was somewhat believed to be his car was parked out outside just before the entry. … Continue reading
CA6: CoA denied for federal defense counsel not pursuing claim SW violated state law
CoA denied for an ineffective assistance of counsel claim that defense counsel didn’t investigate the claim that the state court search warrant hadn’t been properly issued and then filed and was thus invalid. It wouldn’t be because there was essentially … Continue reading