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- CA3: Ptf was arrested on an apparent but recalled warrant, then officers confirmed it and let him go; the arrest was reasonable
- N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
- NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
- Reason: Most Civil Forfeiture Victims Never See the Inside of a Courtroom
- CA8: Admission of anonymous tip that led to stop violated Confrontation Clause
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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: Search incident
CT: Was SI of closet near def handcuffed face down within his reach? Close question, so harmless error applied
Was a defendant handcuffed face down potentially still enough of a risk of danger that a search incident of a closet four feet from him might have been reasonable? Pills were found instead of a weapon. This is a close … Continue reading
AL: Nervousness and a criminal record but without evasion is not reasonable suspicion
Defendant’s nervousness without any evasion and a past criminal record was not reasonable suspicion. The officer testified that he was concerned about four folding knives in the car as potential weapons, but he didn’t get around to doing a search … Continue reading
DC: Mere open container violation does not support a search incident of a car
Mere open container violation does not support a search incident of a car without more. United States v. Nash, 2014 D.C. App. LEXIS 393 (September 25, 2014): Second, the United States cites numerous decisions upholding automobile searches for additional evidence … Continue reading
KY: Cell phone was “pinged” because of missing kids but they were found; def’s location to arrest not suppressed
Defendant’s children were missing and his wife was murdered, and he was a suspect. Police got an exigent circumstances “ping” authority for 48 hours on his phone under the SCA. 18 U.S.C. § 2702(b-c). The phone was off and the … Continue reading
CA3: Neither SI, exigency, nor protective sweep permitted re-entry to locate gun
A protective sweep had already occurred and defendant had been removed from his house in handcuffs and the house secured. A gun was suspected as unaccounted for, so they went back to look for it, and this was unreasonable. The … Continue reading
KS former restrictive SI statute applied rather than Gant
Kansas had a search statute [in effect from 2006-11] that was more restrictive on the police than Gant, and the trial court and court of appeals erred in not applying that statute. State v. Julian, 2014 Kan. LEXIS 500 (September … Continue reading
WA: Defendant was separated from his backpack, so it couldn’t be searched incident to arrest
During a Terry stop, the officer separated defendant from his backpack, and the backpack was searched about 10 minutes later when defendant was placed under arrest. The backpack was thus not on defendant’s person nor within his area of control … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Defendant’s denial he had an ID didn’t warrant searching his wallet
Just because defendant was nervous and denied having ID when it was apparent he had a wallet, a search of his wallet wasn’t justified. United States v. Garcia-Garza, 2014 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105586 (D. Minn. June 30, 2014):
E.D.Va.: None of four exceptions to warrant requirement supported search of jacket in another room
The search of defendant’s coat in a separate room from him could not be justified under any exception to the warrant requirement: protective sweep, emergency/exigency, Terry frisk, or search incident. Defendant did finally break away from the officers, too, making … Continue reading
MA: Arrest on outstanding warrants doesn’t justify a search incident
Arrest on outstanding warrants for drugs and violation of a protective order does not give officers the authority to conduct a search incident. Commonwealth v. White, 469 Mass. 96, 12 N.E.3d 348 (2014). Pro se plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claims were … Continue reading
SCOTUS: A search warrant is required for a cell phone; generally no search incident
Riley v. California: A search warrant is generally required for search of a cell phone. The search incident justifications do not apply to the wealth of personal information that likely will be there. Riley v. California, 2014 U.S. LEXIS 4497, … Continue reading
NMI: Search of cigarette pack reasonable in SI to look for weapon
Defendant was on a moped with another, and they were stopped at a sobriety checkpoint. The registration was years out of date, and they were directed aside for a more intense review. Defendant’s cigarette pack aroused suspicion because of the … Continue reading
NY2: State waived ground for search incident by not arguing it in the trial court
A gun was found in a backpack of defendant chased by the police fleeing from an arrest. There was no ground shown for search incident of the backpack. The state did not rely on possible presence of drug evidence in … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Hand-to-hand drug deal from car supported search incident
Officers observed a hand-to-hand drug deal from a car and they approached it. Then the occupants tossed what appeared to be more. This was sufficient for a search incident of the car under Gant. United States v. Daniel, 2014 U.S. … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Def’s admission there was meth in his car was PC for a search; Gant inapplicable
Gant did not void the search of defendant’s car where he’d already admitted there was methamphetamine in the car. Searching the car for meth, officers found a firearm and defendant was a convicted felon. United States v. Spack, 2014 U.S. … Continue reading
KY: Shot fired from car in flight reason for search of car; no violation of Gant
Officers could perform a search incident of defendant’s vehicle because a shot was fired from it in flight. This was not a violation of Gant. The search could also be justified by inventory. Hinchey v. Commonwealth, 2014 Ky. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: Custodial arrest for littering supported search incident
Police responded to a 911 call and saw defendant, who appeared to be wearing body armor, throw a food wrapper on the ground. They arrested him for littering and took him in. The search incident of the body armor was … Continue reading
KY: Search incident to arrest could precede the arrest
The CI here was getting calls from the defendant about defendant selling him drugs, so he called the police to set him up. He was wired and took marked money. The seizure of the pill bottle off defendant was with … Continue reading
OH12: Boots were seized incident to arrest; no SW needed for DNA testing
Defendant’s boots were seized either incident to his arrest or out of the jail property room, and no warrant was needed to submit them to the crime laboratory for DNA testing. State v. Alltop, 2014-Ohio-1695, 2014 Ohio App. LEXIS 1650 … Continue reading