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- W.D.N.C.: No REP in a police interview room
- TX2: No SW needed to get IMEI number of an abandoned cell phone to trace the owner
- W.D.Pa.: Affidavit for SW doesn’t have to say CI was reliable when the facts and circumstances alleged showed it
- S.D.N.Y.: GJ subpoena for cell phone passcode quashed.
- S.D.N.Y.: There’s a privacy interest in a cell phone passcode, but its disclosure here under a ruse does not lead to suppression
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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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) -
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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) -
“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)
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Category Archives: Apparent authority
S.D.N.Y.: Late return of SW materials in discovery wasn’t at all prejudicial
The return of the search warrant materials was late, but defendant shows no prejudice, and he had them in discovery. United States v. Lesane, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137777 (S.D.N.Y. July 23, 2021). Defendant’s discovery claim that the government must … Continue reading
E.D.Wisc.: Domestic abuse victim bleeding outside had apparent authority to consent to entry and search
A domestic abuse victim police encountered bleeding outside had apparent authority to consent to an entry and search of the property. As the police came up, she said “He beat me bad this time.” Quintero v. Vega, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
NC: State has burden of proof BRD on 4A harmless error
The state carries the burden of proving harmless error for a Fourth Amendment beyond a reasonable doubt. State v. Scott, 2021-NCSC-41, 2021 N.C. LEXIS 321 (Apr. 16, 2021). The evidence supports that the person consenting had apparent and actual authority … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Officer acting outside his local jurisdiction isn’t 4A issue
“Mr. van Leeuwen also claims that Boone County officers were without jurisdiction when they arrested him in his Marion County home, in alleged violation of Arkansas Code § 14-15-501. However, ‘[a] police violation of state law does not establish a … Continue reading
NE: Search of passenger’s purse by consent for passenger compartment was based on reasonable belief it was passenger’s
The driver consented to a search of the car defendant was a passenger in. The passenger’s purse was reasonably believed to be the driver’s for consent purposes, even though it was on her side. When it was opened and her … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Reasonable reliance on apparent authority is good faith in itself
Reasonable reliance on apparent authority to consent is good faith. “And relying on consent in good faith is circular and redundant. Whether there is apparent authority to consent already addresses the officers’ good-faith belief in the consenters’ authority. Put differently, … Continue reading
No apparent authority over daughter’s separate downstairs apartment
Defendant’s mother did not have common authority over the entire premises to consent to a search. She owned the place and lived upstairs. Her daughter had separate quarters downstairs, and her son was sometimes allowed to stay with her. Commonwealth … Continue reading
OR: Apparent authority to consent to search of contents of car here limited to his own stuff
There were two people in a van and a consent search was sought; the police needed to make sure that one didn’t consent to search of property under control of the other. “As a matter of law, actual authority over … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Probation search of cell phone was reasonable even though a later forensic search was conducted
A probation search of defendant’s cell phone was based on reasonable suspicion that defendant violated his conditions of supervised release. The later warrantless forensic review of his phone was unreasonable. United States v. Brownlee, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103839 (M.D. … Continue reading
TN: With no findings of fact, court can look at dashcam video and draw own conclusion suppression was appropriate
The trial court didn’t make findings of fact, so the appellate court can review the dashcam video and draw its own conclusions. “The trial court reviewed the testimony of the only witness and made an implicit finding that his testimony … Continue reading
D.Me.: Order of protection between occupants of car is RS
When the officer discovers an order of protection between two people in a car, there is reasonable suspicion to investigate further. United States v. Williams, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 91549 (D. Me. May 26, 2020). The police reasonably believed the … Continue reading
GU: Driver of a car has apparent authority to consent to search
The driver of a car presumptively has the apparent authority to consent to its search even though he didn’t own it. People v. Quintanilla, 2020 Guam LEXIS 8 (May 21, 2020). Two new and unused meth pipes in defendant’s glove … Continue reading
CA7: Consenter had apparent authority; no signs she might not have actual authority
Based on all the evidence, the consenter had apparent authority to consent to the search of the house. While she’d supposedly moved out, she had a key and still had stuff there, and the officers had no suggestion that she … Continue reading
LA2: Officer’s leaning in open window wasn’t a plain view; def’s demands to know why he’s detained can’t be RS when he has a right to know
Officer’s leaning into the open window of defendant’s car with a flashlight to get a better view was not a plain view. Statute “commands police officers, upon detaining a citizen in connection with the investigation or commission of any offense, … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Shotspotter’s negative report belied the anonymous CI and made reliance on the CI unreasonable
The Shotspotter’s negative report of shots fired immediately known by the police contradicted their anonymous CI and made defendant’s stop unreasonable. United States v. King, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 23208 (N.D. Ill. Feb. 11, 2020). The co-occupant of defendant’s trailer … Continue reading