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- 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
CA5: “criminal activity underfoot” was reasonable suspicion
Court seemingly confuses “criminal activity a foot” with “criminal activity underfoot.” Leaving a gun in a stranger’s car here was reasonable suspicion for further action. United States v. Cook, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 20339 (5th Cir. Nov. 11, 2016):
CA6: Rule 41(g) motion for return of property doesn’t lie in federal court when state officers seized, even in a federal prosecution
Rule 41(g) motion for return of property requires that officers of the federal government have seized it. Where state and local authorities seized the property, a 41(g) motion doesn’t lie in federal court. United States v. Price, 2016 U.S. App. … Continue reading
NY co.ct.: Noting split in case law, slight smell of MJ in the passenger compartment generally doesn’t justify a search of the trunk; here, however, trunk accessible from inside car
Noting a split in authorities, the court finds that the smell of marijuana in the passenger compartment [here, coming off the rental agreement] does not give probable cause to search the trunk. Here, however, the trunk was accessible from the … Continue reading
IA: Trained drug dog’s instinctive jump into the window of def’s car didn’t make the dog sniff unreasonable
A trained drug dog’s instinctive jump through an open window and into defendant’s vehicle did not violate his right to be free from unreasonable searches. [If the dog is so well-trained, what’s it doing jumping through the window anyway? The … Continue reading
NY4: Consent form filled out by police wasn’t proof of control of the premises; facts otherwise too vague
Defendant’s consent form was written by the police with boilerplate language, and the consent form is not sufficient evidence of control of the place searched. For all the proof shows, he was just somewhat familiar with the place and there … Continue reading
Two on justified reasonableness of delay of a traffic stop
The delay in defendant’s detention was reasonable because a person with the same name had been previously deported, and officers were trying to get a picture of that person sent to them. United States v. Jimenez-Delatorre, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
IA: All specifics of lack of PC need to be raised in trial court; here, this argument was waived
Defendant was stopped for having one headlight. The specific claim that there was no probable cause for pulling him over because he wasn’t on a public road was never presented to the trial court, and it’s waived. State v. Tusler, … Continue reading
OH10: The cargo area of a box truck couldn’t be searched on RS
Reasonable suspicion and officer safety did not support the search of the cargo area of a box truck. There was no probable cause here, either, for the automobile exception to apply. State v. Jackson, 2016-Ohio-7669, 2016 Ohio App. LEXIS 4535 … Continue reading
FL1: Passenger can be ordered from car during stop, following FL5; conflict with FL1 certified
“Relying on Brendlin and Johnson, the Fifth District in Aguilar [v. State, 199 So. 3d 920 (Fla. 5th DCA Apr. 1, 2016), rev. denied No. SC16-633, 2016 Fla. LEXIS 1336 (Fla. June 24, 2016)], concluded that an officer may, as … Continue reading
TX14: Dashcam video didn’t support officer’s version and appellate court won’t reverse suppression order
The dashcam video doesn’t support the state’s contention defendant was weaving before the stop, and there is no abuse of discretion in the trial court’s findings suppressing the stop for a “welfare check” that led to a DUI arrest. State … Continue reading
E.D.Wash.: Defending on lack of connection to property was best course; no IAC for lack of standing, and if motion made it would have lost on merits, too
Defendant’s counsel wasn’t ineffective: “This Court unequivocally finds that Defendant manifested a deliberate abandonment to any interest in his neighbor’s shed. Counsel was not ineffective by tactically defending the charge by highlighting the absence of positive evidence tying Defendant to … Continue reading
N.D.W.Va.: “Officers are not required to completely confirm reasonable suspicions before they may perform an investigative stop — only to possess a suspicion that is reasonable.”
“Defendant’s identity was not relevant to reasonable suspicion that he committed an assault, since the witnesses who reported the assault did not know his identity and therefore could not report it to Captain Root. Captain Root had only a physical … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Affidavit failed to show nexus but it wasn’t bare bones, so GFE applies
The affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s car failed to show nexus to the crime under investigation, but it wasn’t “bare bones” so the court applies the good faith exception to sustain it. United States v. Fletcher, 2016 U.S. … Continue reading
KY: Dog sniff during routine traffic stop was unreasonable without RS
A dog sniff during a routine traffic stop was unreasonable because it extended the stop. Under state case law, the dog sniff had to have some relation to the purpose of the stop or reasonable suspicion developed, and here there … Continue reading
OH1: Vehicle weapon frisk reasonable despite def being out of car
The officer’s frisk of defendant’s vehicle for a weapon was reasonable on reasonable suspicion even though defendant was out of the car. It wouldn’t be hard for him to get back to car. [Seems difficult to imagine a vehicle frisk … Continue reading
OH10: Failing to raise suppression issue at trial court was waived for appeal
Defendant waived his argument related to a prolonged detention by failing to raise it in his motions to suppress or at the suppression hearings, and then only by raising the argument for the first time on appeal. State v. Geiger, … Continue reading
D.Ore.: Request for DL and holding on to it is a seizure of the person
“While Defendant was not seized during his initial encounter with Officer Fender, the encounter escalated into a seizure at the moment Defendant provided his identification in response to Officer Fender’s request.” [After all, one’s ID is required for many transactions … Continue reading
AR: Denying ownership of CDs found in def’s backpack denied him standing in the CDs
Defendant denied that CDs in his backpack were his, that somebody else must have put them there. Therefore, he lacked standing to contest a search of the CDs, and defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not raising a losing issue. Rea … Continue reading