Archives
-
Recent Posts
- CA7: Jail officials holding ptif under a valid court order aren’t liable for not releasing him sooner after a sentencing error
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
-
-
ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
-
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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
U.S. Supreme Court (Home)
Federal Appellate Courts Opinions
First Circuit
Second Circuit
Third Circuit
Fourth Circuit
Fifth Circuit
Sixth Circuit
Seventh Circuit
Eighth Circuit
Ninth Circuit
Tenth Circuit
Eleventh Circuit
D.C. Circuit
Federal Circuit
Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
Google Scholar
Advanced Google Scholar
Google search tips
LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
LexisONE free caselaw
Findlaw Free Opinions
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
-
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
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)
-
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
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 -
"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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Ineffective assistance
TN: Trial court erred in deciding no standing where state didn’t argue that
The trial court decided the suppression issue on lack of standing when the state conceded standing and argued the merits of the search. Reversed for another suppression hearing. State v. Richards, 2023 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 430 (Oct. 23, 2023). … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: State law jurisdiction of the officers involved isn’t cognizable in a 2254
State law jurisdiction of the officers involved isn’t cognizable in a 2254. McDowell v. Hainesworth, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187496 (M.D. Pa. Oct. 18, 2023). Petitioner doesn’t get a CoA to appeal his 2255. He provides no basis for concluding … Continue reading
OH: Written inventory not always required to justify it
The failure of officers to make a written inventory doesn’t necessarily constitutionally nullify the inventory. Officer’s testimony about the standardized procedures was sufficient without actually putting the policy into evidence. State v. Toran, 2023-Ohio-3564, 2023 Ohio LEXIS 1957 (Oct. 4, … Continue reading
CA6: Officer’s knowledge of parole search condition irrelevant when there was PC
“Regardless of whether Cosme was aware of the search condition prior to conducting the traffic stop, the district court did not err in denying Marr’s motion to suppress. We thus find it unnecessary to address the broader question of whether … Continue reading
W.D.Va.: Interference with prison mail is 1&14A claim, not 4A
Confiscation or interference with prison legal mail is a First and Fourteenth Amendment claim, not Fourth. Chenevert v. Kanode, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171627 (W.D. Va. Sep. 26, 2023). There was reasonable suspicion for a frisk of the driver of … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: License plate reading “SOVEREIGN CITIZEN USC ART. SEC. 242.” was RS for stop
License plate reading “SOVEREIGN CITIZEN USC ART. SEC. 242.” was reasonable suspicion for a stop. He admitted he had a gun and the computer check showed he was a convicted felon. United States v. Craft, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 170483 … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Defense counsel was ineffective for not raising valid suppression issue that would have reduced Guideline range below life
Defense counsel at trial was ineffective for not raising a suppression issue that would likely have prevailed and taken defendant from a life sentence down to a 20 year MM. United States v. Dasinger, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168974 (M.D. … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Right to non-recording and distribution of jail calls to attorneys was clearly established
Plaintiff’s complaint against the jail for recording attorney-client calls and transmitting them to law enforcement and prosecutors stated a claim for relief that was clearly established. Hurdsman v. Gleason, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 163081 (W.D. Tex. Sep. 14, 2023). Defendant’s … Continue reading
MD: IAC Brady claim fails over search claim
Defense counsel’s failure to seek the IAD file on the officers at a suppression hearing wasn’t ineffective assistance of counsel. The searching officer had an alleged propensity to exaggerate and excessively strip search. Here, however, another officer was there to … Continue reading
CA3: Def’s possession of rental car with renter’s permission gave standing
“Christopher Montalvo-Flores moved to suppress evidence the Government obtained in its search of his girlfriend’s rental car. The District Court denied his motion, holding that he failed to show he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in that vehicle. We … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: No REP in shared folder on computer open on eMule program
The government’s “pre-search” of a shared folder on defendant’s computer available through eMule was not subject to a reasonable expectation of privacy and was reasonable. United States v. Johnson, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 146664 (D. Ariz. Aug. 21, 2023), adopting … Continue reading
OH5: “Red screen” on patrol car’s computer screen was RS for def’s LPN
A “red screen” on the police car’s computer screen meant a serious warning about defendant’s LPN, and that justified the stop. State v. Cooper, 2023-Ohio-2897, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS 2881 (5th Dist. Aug. 18, 2023).* Blocking both ends of an … Continue reading
ID: Pleading only state constitution waived 4A
Defendant’s pleading only the state constitution waived the Fourth Amendment claim. State v. Bell, 2023 Ida. LEXIS 95 (Aug. 15, 2023). Defendant complained trial counsel was ineffective for not challenging a search of house that was allegedly burglarized and defendant’s … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Tracking warrant that provided for tracking but not installation was saved by GFE
The tracking warrant provided for tracking of the car, but did not mention installing the tracker. The court finds the good faith exception applies. United States v. Gonzalez, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 142057 (D.Minn. Aug. 15, 2023). There was probable … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: PC to believe a person lives at a particular address can be wrong and still be sufficient
Probable cause to believe a person lives at a particular address can be wrong and still be sufficient. “Vaughn also challenges the sufficiency of the affidavit on the ground that it failed to establish probable cause that he lived at … Continue reading
CA11: Outsider to case has no standing in Mar-a-Lago SW litigation to challenge PC
Plaintiff, a citizen who is essentially a person on the street with no particular interest in the case, has no ability to intervene in the Mar-a-Lago search warrant case to argue lack of probable cause, something conceded by the parties. … Continue reading
W.D.Tex.: Halfway house tenant has no REP in own cell phone
A resident of a halfway house has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his cell phone while residing there. He agreed that his property was subject to search. United States v. Weste, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 132886 (W.D. Tex. July … Continue reading
NY3: Leaving one’s house to do a drug deal and returning is nexus to house
“Contrary to defendant’s contention, the CI’s basis of knowledge was not undermined by the fact that the CI did not actually enter the apartment during the controlled buys …. A sufficient nexus to the apartment was established by the continuous … Continue reading
CA10: Civil remedy for violation of Posse Comitatus Act, not exclusion
The remedy for a violation of the Posse Comitatus Act is civil, not exclusion. United States v. King, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 19052 (10th Cir. July 25, 2023) (denying COA). “On the whole, the factors outlined in Chavez provide mixed … Continue reading