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- OH7: Magistrate signing SW for something outside of territorial jurisdiction not a 4A violation
- OH2: Stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate 4A
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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)
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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: Reasonable suspicion
M.D.Ga.: Defs had standing in borrowed car; no RS because defs’ answers were objectively reasonable
Defendants borrowed a car and had standing in the car because it contained personal records being transported. The stop was unreasonably extended by questions about the trip. The officer found them suspicious, but the court does not. The defendants’ answers … Continue reading
KS: Waiting to run criminal history check unreasonably extended stop; drug dog used during that time
The stop was unreasonably extended by waiting several minutes to run a criminal history which was not for safety reasons. While the criminal history check was being run, a drug dog was run around the car. The exclusionary rule applies … Continue reading
GA: While state database showed def’s car uninsured, his proof of insurance on phone app was enough to show lack of PC for impoundment
The officer here was running LPNs to see if cars passing through an intersection were insured. Defendant’s car came back uninsured based on the state database. Once stopped, however, defendant showed an app on his phone that showed he obtained … Continue reading
W.D.La.: Giving officers the benefit of their training and experience there was RS for continuing the stop
“‘Courts must allow law enforcement “officers to draw on their own experience and specialized training to make inferences from and deductions about the cumulative information available to them that might well elude an untrained person.”’ Estrada, 459 F.3d at 632 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Motorcycle gang’s jacket and other vague things wasn’t RS; a Terry frisk requires separate justification from a Terry stop
A Terry stop doesn’t automatically include the ability to conduct a frisk because they have separate justifications. Here, defendant was wearing a motorcycle gang jacket, but nothing else came close to providing reasonable suspicion, and the motion to suppress is … Continue reading
CA11: Becoming defensive about some questioning during stop didn’t rise to RS
Being in a high crime area and then becoming defensive only when the officer asked defendant where his mother lived when it came up was not reasonable suspicion. Defendant’s frisk was unreasonable on the totality. Suppressing the gun found on … Continue reading
IN: Hot pursuit into Kentucky did not violate state constitution
Defendant was more than reasonably suspected of committing a homicide in Indiana, and police got a line on him heading to Kentucky. A vehicle matching the description of his was seen on the nearest bridge to Kentucky shortly thereafter and … Continue reading
MA: Two detectives joining into a traffic stop didn’t make it unreasonable or extend it
The stop was for a traffic offense, and two detectives stopped to participate. Their questions about smelling marijuana didn’t unreasonably extend the stop. Commonwealth v. Buckley, 2018 Mass. LEXIS 87 (Feb. 14, 2018):
C.D.Cal.: Strong air freshener isn’t RS to extend a stop
“The Domestic Highway Enforcement Team of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department is a special criminal investigation team employed to patrol Los Angeles County highways in search of criminal activity carried on in vehicles traveling on those highways. The team’s purpose … Continue reading
DE: Def’s crossing the unmarked center of a highway for a couple of seconds wasn’t RS
“Here, Trooper Freeman testified that ‘the only basis for the stop’ was that Defendant veered into the left lane on a roadway that did not have solid lines. Speed was not a factor. Absent any testimony or video evidence concerning … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Exclusionary rule wouldn’t apply to USCG’s obtaining medical records of merchant mariners (dicta)
Plaintiff sued the Coast Guard because it subpoenaed his medical records for the merchant marine, something completely within its statutory and regulatory authority. The Coast Guard 40 years ago determined that the exclusionary rule wouldn’t be applied to medical records … Continue reading
NY4: Pinging cell phone was harmless error even if a warrant was required
The pinging of defendant’s cell phone to find him was without a warrant. If it was constitutional error, it was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. People v. Moorer, 2018 NY Slip Op 00754, 2018 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 697 (4th … Continue reading
PA: Furtive movements then refusing to remove hands from pockets was RS
On a report of a man with a gun, officers went to area and found defendant who didn’t exactly match the description. As they circled the block, defendant would change directions. When they pulled up next to him, which was … Continue reading
DE: Def’s texting victim was nexus to the cell phone
Defendant’s texting the victim gives nexus to the cell phone. There was a temporal limit on the warrant. State v. Rizzo, 2018 Del. Super. LEXIS 44 (Jan. 26, 2018) There was reasonable suspicion for seizure of a FedEx package from … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: The stairwell of a hotel was a public place for arrest purposes
The government had detailed facts connecting defendant to a bank robbery and traced his movements, some with surveillance video. This was probable cause, and his arrest was in a public place, the stairwell in a hotel. United States v. Peeples, … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def was handcuffed and in police car, so search incident didn’t apply; it was inevitable, however, inventory would happen
Defendant’s arrest led to a search incident of luggage, but he was handcuffed and in a police car. So, the search incident doctrine can’t apply, but an inventory would have inevitably occurred, so that provides an independent basis for the … Continue reading
NJ: Misapplication of statute to make stop means stop is bad; Heien not yet applied in NJ
The law requires a working taillight. Defendant had one. “The officer’s erroneous application of the functioning taillight requirement was not an objectively reasonable mistake of law.” Therefore, Heien and the objectively reasonable mistake of law doesn’t apply here. The court, … Continue reading
D.Conn.: “observation of a small amount of marijuana not clearly labelled for medicinal use creates probable cause that evidence of illegal drug activity would be found within the car”
“Because Officer Diaz had reason to believe that a gun would be found within the Defendant’s car prior to the stop, his observation of a small amount of marijuana not clearly labelled for medicinal use creates probable cause that evidence … Continue reading
WI: Even though RS dissipated before the driver could be asked for DL, it was still reasonable to check all paperwork
Even though reasonable suspicion dissipates on the stop, here because the owner was a woman with a suspended DL but a man was driving, it is still reasonable for the officer to check the paperwork of the driver and car. … Continue reading