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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)
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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, 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: Apparent authority
N.D.Ala.: Renting bedroom from homeowner and paying in drugs still gave renter standing; but owner had apparent authority to consent
Defendant lived in a drug dealer’s house where he rented the room in exchange for drugs. He had unfettered access to come and go. That gave him standing in his own room. The owner, however, also had unrestricted access to … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Def’s mother did not have joint control over a trailer he lived in on her property; officers at minimum should have inquired more
Defendant lived on property with his mother, but he was in a trailer. It was unreasonable for officers to believe that she had joint control over his part of the property. At best, the situation was such that officers should … Continue reading
S.D.Fla.: Govt had objective good faith belief def consented to search through his lawyer
The government had an objective good faith belief that the defendant in jail consented to a search of a storage unit through his lawyer. The lawyer was asked about whether the officers could have consent or get a search warrant, … Continue reading
GA: Giving computer password out gives recipient apparent authority to consent
Giving one’s wife the password to the computer showed that she had apparent authority to consent to its search. Massey v. State, 2019 Ga. App. LEXIS 267 (May 21, 2019). Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not pursuing a motion to … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Roommate had apparent authority to permit entry and search of entertainment center in living room
Defendants were contract USPS carriers and Postal Inspectors believed they were involved in stealing Netflix DVDs from the mail. DVDs with serial numbers were sent on their route and disappeared. The Postal Inspectors went to defendants’ home to conduct a … Continue reading
TN: Apparent authority to consent also determines standing
Apparent authority to consent is also standing. Lack of apparent authority to consent is no standing. State v. Madewell, 2018 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 896 (Dec. 12, 2018). The smell of marijuana was probable cause for the search of defendant’s … Continue reading
PA: Firing an assault rifle in your house justifies a protective sweep
After defendant fired an assault rifle in his house, the police were called. A protective sweep to see if anyone was injured was reasonable. Commonwealth v. Coughlin, 2018 PA Super 304, 2018 Pa. Super. LEXIS 1221 (Nov. 14, 2018). “‘Probable … Continue reading
FL1: Possessor of USB drives who acquired them trading for drugs had apparent authority to consent
Defendant’s vehicle had been burglarized and USB drives were also stolen. The police report omitted them. Later, another guy acquired the USB drives when he was buying drugs. When he was busted, he turned them over to the police telling … Continue reading
NV: Def lived with uncle, and uncle lacked apparent authority to consent to a search of his room
Defendant was allegedly involved in a hit and run accident with injury. A license plate fell off his car and was found at the scene of the accident. An officer went to his address and found the apparent damaged vehicle … Continue reading
D.Me.: Where a couple shared a closet, her apparent authority extended to whole closet, not just his side
Defendant and his girlfriend shared a closet where they were staying, and she had apparent authority to consent to a search of the whole closet, not just her side of it. United States v. Lawson, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 137966 … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Def lived with his grandfather, and the “presumption of consent” in a familial relationship was apparent to officers
Defendant lived with his grandfather, and the familial relationship is different than that of a co-tenant. The evidence apparent to the officers was that the grandfather had control of the premises, and the grandson slept either in a bedroom or … Continue reading
E.D.Va.: Manafort storage building search sustained: Employee with free access had apparent authority to consent to entry
The FBI reasonably relied on a person with apparent authority to consent to an entry into a storage locker to look around. The consenter had free access to the storage room as an employee, and the employer-employee relationship can permit … Continue reading
CA11: Def was outside while consent sought from cotenant inside; consent valid and Randolph doesn’t help him
The consent of a cotenant was voluntary and valid, and she clearly had apparent authority to do so. Defendant was nearby and outside, but the police made no effort to ask him for consent nor to segregate him to prevent … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Protective sweep valid to look for other pressure cooker bombs; parent has presumptive apparent authority to consent to search of adult child’s room
Defendant was suspected of making a pressure cooker bomb, which was found. (1) A protective sweep was proper to determine whether there were others in the house. (2) The house was owned by defendant’s father, and defendant merely lived there. … Continue reading
MN: Seizure of blood sample by SW to a hospital doesn’t violate doctor-patient privielge
“The seizure of a patient’s blood sample pursuant to a search warrant addressed to a hospital does not violate the statutory physician-patient privilege because a blood sample collected by the hospital as part of medical treatment does not constitute ‘information’ … Continue reading
N.D.N.Y.: Rental inspection code use of may not shall to get admin. warrant not 4A violation
The fact the City of Schenectady’s rental building inspection code says that the inspectors may get a warrant instead of shall doesn’t state a Fourth Amendment violation. There’s no evidence that the city has applied it unconstitutionally yet. Hafez v. … Continue reading