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- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
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- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- 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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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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)
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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
D.N.J.: Def’s criminal history alone wasn’t RS to extend the stop under Rodriguez
The officer had no reasonable suspicion to extend defendant’s traffic stop after stopping him for no headlights on and using a cell phone. Once defendant’s criminal record popped up, the inquiry got more intense and lengthy. Nothing about defendant’s behavior … Continue reading
D.Utah: Repeated flushing of toilet in a hotel room added to PC
“All of these facts, taken in their totality, support a finding of probable cause. There was a fair probability that the Defendant was present in room #209 based upon the informant’s tip indicating he was there, Defendant’s motorcycle found in … Continue reading
OH5: Citizen’s suspicious person call alone doesn’t support a stop
Other than a citizen’s telephone call, the officer admitted there was nothing about defendant that made him look suspicious or that he was up to no good. The stop and frisk was suppressed. State v. Hall, 2017-Ohio-5805; 2017 Ohio App. … Continue reading
TN: A BOLO may be RS
“‘“[A]n alert or BOLO report may provide the reasonable suspicion necessary to justify an investigatory stop.”’ Davila v. United States, 713 F.3d 248, 258 (5th Cir. 2013) (quoting United States v. Rodriguez, 564 F.3d 735, 742 (5th Cir. 2009)); see … Continue reading
D.P.R.: Protective sweep of garage and upstairs was valid; plain view sustained, but search of closed bag suppressed
“[T]he court finds that extending the protective sweep to the garage and the second floor was within the bounds set forth by the Supreme Court in Buie and the First Circuit in United States v. Winston, 444 F.3d 115, 120 … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Video doesn’t support stop; suppressed
The video belies the entire basis for the stop for speeding or swerving, and the court notes that the government previously dismissed three cases from the same officer for credibility issues. The court finds no basis for the stop and … Continue reading
TN: SW for blood in one county can’t be executed in another
A search warrant for defendant’s blood was issued in Lewis County, but defendant was moved to Perry County for the blood draw. The search warrant had no effect in Perry County. State v. Nunnery, 2017 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 622 … Continue reading
DE: Nervousness, criminal history, use of a rental vehicle, and high crime area not RS
“Delaware Courts have held that nervousness, criminal history, and use of a rental vehicle are not supportive of reasonable suspicion unless used in conjunction with ‘more tangible, objectively articulable indicators of criminality.’” Being in a high crime area also wasn’t … Continue reading
NJ rejects a RS requirement for all vehicle dog sniffs
New Jersey adopts the Fourth Amendment standard of Rodriguez, and reasonable suspicion is not required for a dog sniff of a car unless the stop is prolonged for the sniff beyond the mission of the stop. State v. Dunbar, 2017 … Continue reading
OR: Def being under influence of drugs isn’t per se RS he’s in possession
Defendant was likely under the influence, but the officer lacked reasonable suspicion that he was in possession of drugs for the detention. State v. Davis, 286 Ore. App. 528, 2017 Ore. App. LEXIS 861 (July 6, 2017):
D.Vt.: Officers had RS when they told def to roll his window down
“Because they had a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the BPD officers were entitled to exert a minimal restraint on Defendant’s freedom of movement by directing him to roll down his vehicle’s windows in order to investigate further.” “In the … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Supposition isn’t enough to discredit officer’s testimony about the stop
The court finds the officer’s testimony credible: “The court is likewise unpersuaded by the defendants’ arguments that Arwood’s testimony regarding the events of the day and his reason for stopping defendants’ vehicle lacks credibility. Defendants raise a litany of concerns … Continue reading
MI: Video showed the stop was extended without RS
Defendant’s seizure after a traffic stop was without reasonable suspicion under Rodriguez. “We have reviewed the relevant testimony as well as the complete video/audio recording of the encounter from Daniels’s first observation of defendant’s car through the arrest. On the … Continue reading
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