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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
Latest Slip Opinions:
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Fourth Circuit
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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)
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LexisWeb
LII State Appellate Courts
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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
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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)
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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)
--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, 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] -
“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) -
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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Standing
W.D.Pa.: Def was not an overnight guest, but his connection to the property was substantial, he had a key, and he could come and go at will, so that’s sufficient
On the spectrum of standing from overnight guest to somebody with minimal connection to the premises, defendant was not an overnight guest, but he had a key and pretty much free reign over the premises. The court concludes he had … Continue reading
CA3: A threat to violate the 4A is not a 4A violation; it is contingent for Art. III
“The Probation Department employees’ alleged threat to send Repotski back to jail does not state a constitutional violation cognizable under § 1983. See McFadden v. Lucas, 713 F.2d 143, 146 (5th Cir. 1983) (noting that mere threats do not amount … Continue reading
OH2: Part owner of a business didn’t have standing to challenge seizure of surveillance DVR with video of him committing assault
Defendant was a part owner of a business with computer access cards to get in doors. He still didn’t have a sufficient reasonable expectation of privacy in the computer storage system of a surveillance video system showing where he committed … Continue reading
W.D.Okla.: Def’s on-again off-again relationship with decedent didn’t give him standing in a search of her premises when they were off-again; he had no key
“Though Defendant may have had an ‘ongoing and meaningful connection to [Zotigh’s] home as a social guest’ at certain times prior to the searches, Zotigh’s termination of their relationship, her refusal to allow Defendant to stay in her mobile home … Continue reading
WA grants automatic standing to a car thief but finds inventory of the car reasonable
“We are asked to answer two questions under article I, section 7 of our state constitution: first, whether defendants have standing to challenge the scope of a warrantless inventory search of a vehicle when that vehicle is stolen and, second, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: A car hauler has actual and apparent authority to consent to a car in his possession for transport
The car that was searched was being hauled by a car carrier. By turning over a car to a car hauler, the car hauler has complete possession and actual and apparent authority to consent to a search, and the person … Continue reading
OH8: Misstating the owner of a cell phone in warrant application was not material when it was seized as part of a burglary conspiracy
A burglar alarm in an industrial area at 1 am brought the police who saw men scattering, and one vehicle leaving. There was reasonable suspicion for stopping the vehicle. The search warrant for a cell phone was proper because it … Continue reading
M.D.La.: State privacy law confers no additional standing in federal court
As a mere passenger, defendant has no standing to contest a search of the car. “The Court also rejects Defendant’s argument that his state-law right to privacy somehow confers standing in this federal action. Defendant has the burden of establishing … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Def lacked standing in a hotel room he occasionally frequented but hadn’t been in for 17 days
Officers conducted a raid on hotel rooms for human trafficking evidence. Defendant’s name on a receipt was found in the room from 17 days earlier. He admits that he wasn’t a guest the night before or regularly before the raid. … Continue reading
CA11: Ptf’s excessive force claim overcomes QI; his facts show clearly established law violated
Defendants were properly denied qualified immunity in using excessive force to arrest plaintiff. Plaintiff’s version of the facts showed clearly established rights were violated. Heck v. Humphrey didn’t apply because plaintiff wasn’t seeking to attack his conviction. Cendan v. Trujillo, … Continue reading
TN: Codefendant suppressed contents of a camera, but def can’t because no standing
Codefendant succeeded in suppressing photographs from an illegally seized camera. This defendant, however, had no property or privacy interest in the camera and thus no standing. State v. McClancy, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 473 (Aug 10, 2019).* State’s notice … Continue reading
OH9: Citizen informant’s 911 call properly admitted at suppression hearing even though hearsay
A 911 call from a citizen informant was properly admitted into evidence becuase hearsay is admissible in suppression hearings. There was a factual basis for defendant’s stop on reasonable suspicion for DUI. The CI’s report was that he was too … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Being handed a bag for five seconds wasn’t enough to create standing
Analyzing bailments under PR law and First Circuit and SCOTUS cases (particularly Rawlings), defendant’s precipitous five second holding of a bag handed off to him wasn’t sufficient to create a bailment or give him standing in the bag. United States … Continue reading
CA1: Standing can’t be based on an untranslated document to put into evidence; even in D.P.R.
Defendant’s claim of standing in the home of another depends upon a Spanish language document [in PR federal court where everyone is bilingual] that was untranslated for the judge [and apparently not for appeal]. Therefore, his standing argument fails. But … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: On remand of Byrd, GFE applied to standing issue
On the Sixth Circuit’s remand of Byrd v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 1518 (2018), to the District Court, the court finds the good faith exception applies to standing issues arising before it was decided. United States v. Byrd, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
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
D.Me.: Even if omission was reckless, missing info only added to PC
Even if the officer’s omission was reckless or intentional, adding in the missing information only makes the probable cause stronger. Therefore, his Franks claim fails. United States v. O’Neal, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 126426 (D. Me. July 30, 2019).* Defendant’s … Continue reading
KY: Officers approached men on a street corner talking; telling def to “hang tight for a minute” because he wanted to run his name and SSN was a seizure requiring RS
Officers saw a group on a corner, so they initiated contact, just because they wanted to. They also attempted to get them to clean up the trash on the corner, which wasn’t shown to be their fault or responsibility. When … Continue reading