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- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to search
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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: Reasonable suspicion
OH9: Running drug dog around car during computer check didn’t delay the stop
Running a drug dog around defendant’s car while the computer check is going on didn’t delay the stop. State v. Torres, 2018-Ohio-1173, 2018 Ohio App. LEXIS 1274 (9th Dist. Mar. 30, 2018). The inclusion of a generalized along with a … Continue reading
MN: Getting out of a car, looking at officer, then walking away was hardly RS
Defendant’s stop, handcuffing, and questioning was without reasonable suspicion based on his looking at officers and walking away. State v. Davis, 2018 Minn. App. LEXIS 162 (Apr. 2, 2018) (“he looked at me” or “he didn’t look at me” has … Continue reading
ND: “Constructive possession of drug paraphernalia is sufficient probable cause to arrest.”
“Constructive possession of drug paraphernalia is sufficient probable cause to arrest.” State v. Terrill, 2018 ND 78, 2018 N.D. LEXIS 89 (Mar. 22, 2018). Ordering defendant out of his vehicle was reasonable even in a stop for overtinted windows. The … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Trespassing on a shopping center parking lot after being told to leave was RS
Officers went to a shopping center parking lot to roust people meeting in the parking lot that they suspected were gang members. Defendant was told to leave, and he drove around and didn’t. The stop of his car was based … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: “[W]hen officers rely on a judicially secured warrant, they are generally entitled to qualified immunity.”
“In search and seizure cases, when officers rely on a judicially secured warrant, they are generally entitled to qualified immunity.” Plaintiff claimed false information was provided for the warrant, but he fails in his burden of showing a fact question … Continue reading
OH11: Def’s vehicle and occupants matching description of bank robbery getaway car and suspects was RS
Defendant’s vehicle matched the description of a bank robbery suspect’s truck in terms of the color, size, make, and model, and the defendant matched the suspect’s description in terms of his gender, race, and clothing. That was reasonable suspicion. State … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Ordering occupants to stay in parked car officer pulled up behind was a seizure, but with RS
The officer pulled up behind defendant’s parked car. “[T]he Court concludes that the officers pulling up behind the parked vehicle constituted a mere encounter that did not ripen into a seizure for Fourth Amendment purposes until Sergeant Spangler ordered Defendant … Continue reading
ID: Search of driver while waiting for confirmation of outstanding warrant suppressed; second search after finding it was valid; no inevitable discovery
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and it came back that there might be a warrant for him. Under state practice, the police then seek confirmation of the warrant before acting on it. Here, however, defendant was frisked incident … Continue reading
NY2: Def ordered out of backseat of car during speeding stop resulted in admission of gun; suppressed for lack of RS
Defendant was in the backseat of a car stopped in Queens for speeding. The officer decided he was a little too nervous and had him get out and asked him what he had. Defendant said “I have a piece.” Based … Continue reading
CA3: SW issued after alleged illegal entry was based on independent source and valid
“[W]hen police search a home pursuant to a warrant obtained after a warrantless search, evidence obtained pursuant to the warrant need not be suppressed so long as: (1) a neutral magistrate would still have issued the warrant ‘even if not … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Officers’ one minute discussion about def deciding what to do wasn’t being undiligent in pursuing their investigation
The officer here had reasonable suspicion defendant was carrying drugs, and the fact that another officer arrived and they talked about defendant for one minute didn’t show that they weren’t diligently following up in their investigation. United States v. Green, … Continue reading
OH10: Def walking down street with a bullet magazine on belt wasn’t violating law and he could ignore officers
Defendant was walking down the street, and officers noticed he had a bullet magazine on his belt. They followed him to his residence, and he declined to talk to them and went inside. Their entry into his residence violated the … Continue reading
CA8: The challenge to RS isn’t piece by piece; RS on totality
The police surveilled defendant’s garage where he was alleged to sell meth from his home in the early morning or at night when he was home. The totality of circumstances add up to reasonable suspicion, and defendant’s challenge was to … Continue reading
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