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Recent Posts
- CA6: Despite two guns being suppressed from arrest on bare-bones arrest affidavit, third gun was later validly seized by independent source
- D.Md.: Govt’s motion to reconsider granted motion to suppress denied; arguments now are too late
- 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
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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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--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
OH10: Hearsay of one officer about another not inadmissible in suppression hearing about RS
The trial court did not err in relying in part on hearsay testimony by one officer about another to find that there was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s detention. State v. Box, 2017-Ohio-1138, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 1165 (10th Dist. March … Continue reading
IN: Even if prolonged knocking can be unreasonable in a knock-and-talk, here it was justified by a chemical smell at the house
Even if prolonged knocking during a knock-and-talk, recognized as potentially unreasonable in United States v. Jerez, 108 F.3d 684 (7th Cir. 1997), was unreasonable, here it was reasonable because it was based on the officers encountering a chemical on the … Continue reading
CA4: Two successive computer checks took a while, but they were reasonable; def finally admitted to a gun during “small talk” with officer at window
Defendant’s stop was a bit long, but not unreasonably long, and it wasn’t delayed by the officers. Running the driver and defendant passenger’s name through NCIC produced an alert on them because of past events, and the court never says … Continue reading
MD: Odor of MJ from car alone doesn’t provide RS for a frisk for weapons
The odor of marijuana alone doesn’t provide reasonable suspicion for a frisk for weapons. Norman v. State, 2017 Md. LEXIS 153 (March 27, 2017):
OH12: Shoplifting arrest supported search incident of def’s backpack
Defendant was arrested outside a store for shoplifting a belt and hat he wore out of the store. The backpack he was wearing was subject to search incident under Gant when he was arrested. State v. Whipple, 2017-Ohio-1094, 2017 Ohio … Continue reading
CA8: RS too fact bound to lend itself to overcoming QI defense in § 1983 case
Plaintiff suppressed his search in state court for lack of reasonable suspicion, but he can’t get over the qualified immunity hurdle to sue the officer for the detention. The reasonable suspicion was thin at best, and, instead of nervousness, the … Continue reading
D.Del.: Evasiveness during a public intox arrest justified Terry frisk
Defendant was arrested for public intox and he became evasive including a request that his name not be run for warrants. That justified a Terry frisk. United States v. King, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 40213 (D. Del. March 21, 2017).* … Continue reading
OH11: Knocking on door jamb and pushing open partly open door was reasonable and with exigent circumstances
Defendant’s motel room door was partly open, and the officer knocked on the door jamb and then pushed the door open. This was reasonable because there was both probable cause and exigent circumstances for opening the door. State v. Fletcher, … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: “electronic devices, narcotics and related paraphernalia, and biological evidence” was sufficiently particular
“Here, the warrants authorized officers to seize three categories of items: electronic devices, narcotics and related paraphernalia, and biological evidence. The affidavits established probable cause that Jackson’s electronic devices could contain evidence of sex trafficking—including photographs, documentary evidence, and advertisements—based … Continue reading
A.F.Ct.Crim.App.: There’s little REP in a shared desk, and search of desk didn’t make it into SW affidavit
Appellant was an Air Force OSI investigator investigated for fraud against the government for false travel vouchers. A search of a shared desk by a coworker produced some documentation, but the government was already on to him, and a civilian … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Passenger’s seatbelt violation supports stop
The officer testified that the reason for this stop was that the passenger wasn’t wearing a seatbelt. The court credits the officer, and nothing, including the video, disproves it. “Given Posey’s vast experience detecting seatbelt violations, it is entirely plausible … Continue reading
DC: Failing to file a motion to suppress is waiver of the issue
Defendant never filed a motion to suppress prior to trial, so the search and seizure claim is waived. Proctor v. United States, 2017 D.C. App. LEXIS 55 (March 16, 2017), amended 2017 D.C. App. LEXIS 331 (Oct. 26, 2017). The … Continue reading
CA11: Partially obscured LPN justified stop when LPN reader couldn’t read it
A partially obscured license plate because of a license plate bracket with an eagle on top that covered “Alabama” but not “God Bless America” on the bottom was a violation of Alabama law justifying the stop. The license plate couldn’t … Continue reading
D.Nev.: No RS for patdown; result of patdown and car search excised from SW affidavit and remainder lacks PC because informant uncorroborated
Defendant was stopped for speeding in a residential area, and he could be ordered out of the vehicle. His patdown, however, was unreasonable because there was no reasonable suspicion for it either by his word or actions or bulges in … Continue reading
NH: When the RS dissipated, the stop should have ended
By the time the officer called for the drug dog, the basis for the stop (LPN) had been resolved, and defendant should have been free to leave. There was no justification or reasonable suspicion to continue the stop for anything. … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: USMJ declines adversary briefing by Google for a SW for email; take it to the USDJ
Google objected to a search warrant for two email accounts, whether located in the U.S. or not. Its motion for a briefing schedule is denied. Despite case law elsewhere, the District Judge is the one to take up adversarial litigation … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Def was “stopped” when he was ordered to turn around at gunpoint; RS wasn’t dispelled just by minor discrepancies in clothing, skin tone, and weight
“[T]here was a clear show of authority when Powell approached Bey with his gun drawn and ordered him to turn around. This command would have conveyed to a reasonable person that he was being ordered to restrict his movement. Bey … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Def was fully cooperative; flight of other person in car not attributable to him
When defendant’s car was stopped, he was cooperative but the passenger ran off. When officers approached defendant, he put up his hands and fully cooperated. His handcuffing was reasonable because of the potential risk of weapons, but there was no … Continue reading