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- CA4: Cell phone non-forensic border search doesn’t require individualized suspicion
- ND: Probation search of cell phone was reasonable
- Vanguard: SF Court Dismisses Felony Charges after Judge Finds Racial Bias Tainted SFPD Stop and Arrest
- 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)
--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
IN recognizes a temporal limit on delaying stops with RS
Defendant was seen in a park wearing a gang color shirt and was a suspected truant, although the officer didn’t act on it. Hours later, after school, defendant was seen again with a group wearing red except his red shirt … Continue reading
CA9: Def’s possession of ammo was independent basis to issue SW
Police were called to defendant’s home in a domestic call that he was holding his wife and her child against their will. They entered and handcuffed him. A patdown of his person produced ammunition. Officers looked in a stack of … Continue reading
OH10: Flight from a Terry stop was PC for search incident
“Because appellant committed an arrestable offense when he fled from the lawful Terry stop, the search of appellant’s person following his apprehension was constitutionally reasonable as a search incident to arrest.” State v. Johnson, 2017-Ohio-5527, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 2583 … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Photos of defs didn’t match the description of officers where that was part of RS calculus; search suppressed
The USMJ credited the defendants on the reasonable suspicion for continuing the stop based on the photographs of the defendants after their arrest that didn’t match what the officer was relying on for their dress and jewelry. No reasonable suspicion, … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Def’s stop was without RS, and body cam video showed it
Milwaukee bike patrol officers heard a gun drop on the street and approached the people around the sound. Only another one walked away as shown in the officer’s body cam. The officers approached defendant, but there was no reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
KS: CI’s tip insufficient; motion to suppress should have been granted
The alleged reasonable suspicion for extending defendant’s traffic stop was the CI’s information which is found insufficient. The state’s alternative basis of defendant’s alleged “jumpiness” was never presented to the trial court. There are no findings on that, it is … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: Officer’s intentional delay in ticketing process made stop violate Rodriguez
Officer’s intentionally delaying the ticket writing process until the drug dog was on its way was intentional delay without reasonable suspicion under Rodriguez. United States v. Rodriguez-Escalera, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95848 (S.D. Ill. June 21, 2017):
D.Md.: Off-duty police officer’s in-person tip of possible DWI was RS
Off-duty police officer’s in person tip of possible drunk driver was reasonable suspicion for stop. United States v. Hernández-Ayala, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95387 (D. Md. June 21, 2017). “[T]his Court also finds under the totality of the circumstances that … Continue reading
PA: Nervousness alone isn’t reasonable suspicion
Nervousness alone isn’t reasonable suspicion. Commonwealth v. Morrison, 2017 PA Super 194, 2017 Pa. Super. LEXIS 456 (June 21, 2017). Officers plainly had probable cause to search defendant’s apartment, as the affidavit for the search warrant application stated that there … Continue reading
CA3: Search of prison cell didn’t violate 4A
The search of plaintiff’s prison cell and confiscation of some of his stuff wasn’t a Fourth Amendment violation. Barndt v. Wenerowicz, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 10754 (3d Cir. June 19, 2017).* The officer here saw a vehicle parked outside a … Continue reading
D.Haw.: Possible new evidence on search issue for motion for new trial doesn’t change outcome
Defendant’s motion for new trial based on possible new evidence for litigating the search and seizure claim under F.R.Crim.P. 33 is denied because it doesn’t change the outcome. United States v. Kapahu, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88922 (D. Haw. June … Continue reading
OR: There is no state constitutional requirement the state get a telephonic warrant to avoid exigency
The state showed adequate evidence that it would take 4-5 hours to obtain a search warrant in this case, and that was enough to show exigency here. The defense put on proof that the state could have obtained a telephonic … Continue reading
OH8: Checking under the hood during an inventory search is reasonable
Checking under the hood during an inventory search is reasonable. State v. Lewis, 2017-Ohio-4300, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 2352 (8th Dist. June 15, 2017). The totality and detail of information from the CI provided the police reasonable suspicion to stop … Continue reading
AK: Driver’s running from a traffic stop alone didn’t create RS to frisk or search passengers
The driver of the pickup defendant was riding in was stopped for a seatbelt violation, and the driver fled on foot. The Alaska State Trooper gave chase but couldn’t keep up. He came back to the vehicle where the two … Continue reading
OH11: Running away is withdrawal of consent to search, but reasonable suspicion for a patdown
Defendant was stopped and consented to a search of his person. When that started, he was moving like he was trying to hide something, then he ran away. Considering the location was a high crime area, there was at least … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Mere refusal to cooperate is not RS, but headlong flight pretty much is
Mere refusal to cooperate is not reasonable suspicion, but headlong flight adds a lot to otherwise legally innocuous yet suggestive facts. United States v. Vance, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87086 (W.D. Ky. June 6, 2017):