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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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Section 1983 Blog -
"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
W.D.N.Y.: Smell of MJ on one in car doesn’t justify search of other two
Where the smell of marijuana came from one person in a car of three, searching all three was unreasonable. United States v. Brock, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90990 (W.D.N.Y. July 12, 2016):
CA6: Qualified immunity given for use of victim in aiding document search
In a § 1983 case over an insurance billing search warrant executed with the aid of BCBS to help identify records, the court finds the officers are entitled to qualified immunity. There was no showing that the non-law enforcement assistance … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: CSLI is but third party information, following almost every other court
Defendant challenges CSLI and concedes four circuits have held it’s third party information. That’s the holding of the court. United States v. Elima, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87588 (C.D.Cal. June 22, 2016).* Officers entering defendant’s curtilage after following him home … Continue reading
GA: Unconscious defendant doesn’t get the implied consent notice
Unconscious defendant doesn’t get the implied consent notice. Bailey v. State, 2016 Ga. App. LEXIS 433 (July 13, 2016).* The officer here had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant’s car after it left a motel with a man and woman inside, … Continue reading
AZ: Smell of marijuana from a car in a MMJ state is RS without indication it is really just MMJ
“Here we consider whether the odor of marijuana suffices to establish probable cause for issuance of a search warrant, given the adoption of the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act (AMMA), A.R.S. §§ 36-2801 through 2819. We hold that it does, unless … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Collective knowledge doesn’t require any one of them to know everything they collectively know
There was reasonable suspicion for the stop, which the defense didn’t seriously contest. What they did contest was collective knowledge, and that doctrine does not require that each officer know what the others know. United States v. Johnson, 2016 U.S. … Continue reading
WI: Air fresheners on every vent in a high crime area with tinted windows was RS
Air fresheners on every vent of the air conditioning and being in a high crime area with tinted windows was reasonable suspicion of possession of drugs, but it’s a close call. Defendant voluntarily consented to the search of his car … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: No REP in bloody tissue left in police dept bathroom
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in a bloody tissue left in a men’s bathroom at the Buffalo police station. United States v. Green, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 87388 (W.D.N.Y. July 6, 2016). Defendants’ vehicle was stopped as it … Continue reading
NC: Driving at normal speed out of a parking lot wasn’t “flight” for RS purposes
Driving out of a parking lot at a normal speed was not flight for reasonable suspicion purposes. “In the present case, the officers observed activity which made them suspect that Defendant’s actions in leaving the apartment complex might constitute flight, … Continue reading
D.Utah: Nexus to home for SW shown by def driving to drug deals from home
Sufficient nexus was shown for a search warrant for defendant’s home from his observed drug dealing on the street. He drove to the drug deals from his home, and other intel had him dealing at home. United States v. Galaviz-Gaxiola, … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Facial showing of racially discriminatory arrests made to get more discovery
Defendant made a sufficient showing of race-based selective enforcement in arrests in Operation Safe Streets in the Tenderloin District of San Francisco to get more discovery. United States v. Mumphrey, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85593 (N.D.Cal. June 30, 2016). Defendant … Continue reading
UT: Car can be stopped where RS passenger in violation of probation
A police officer can pull over a car with a probationer as a passenger when there was reasonable suspicion the passenger was in violation of probation. State v. Mikkelson, 2016 UT App 136, 2016 Utah App. LEXIS 139 (June 30, … Continue reading
HI: Dog sniff for a mere traffic violation unreasonable
The car defendant was in was stopped because of a seat belt violation. Defendant was recognized as being involved in drugs, so a drug dog was called out. Using the drug dog for a mere traffic stop was unreasonable without … Continue reading
NY3: SW for strip search for drugs hidden in crotch was reasonable
A search warrant for any vehicle defendant was found driving was particular enough. There was a factual basis for issuing a search warrant for a strip search where the CI said that defendant kept drugs in his crotch. People v. … Continue reading
ID: Shoplifting stop didn’t justify a frisk
Defendant was stopped out in the parking lot of a store as an alleged accessory to shoplifting. The stop was with reasonable suspicion, but the frisk for weapons was not. Heroin was found in his pocket, and it is suppressed. … Continue reading
IA: School officials had RS to search football player’s equipment bag on hearing metal clunk
Defendant was a high school football player injured during a game, and he went to the hospital. He was expressly concerned about the contents of his school-issued equipment bag to the point that school officials nearly had reasonable suspicion. When … Continue reading
AK: Protective sweep could precede probation search
The challenged part of the home search here was a protective sweep before a probation search, and it was reasonable. Elisoff v. State, 2016 Alas. App. LEXIS 118 (June 22, 2016) (mem.).* 2255 petitioner’s claim that his defense counsel was … Continue reading
OR: Telling def he had to stay with the car while the drug dog came was based on reasonable suspicion
Quick entry and exit of a house under surveillance for drug sales led to police following defendant’s car. Furtive movements occurred inside, and defendant delayed stopping the car until those movements stopped. All that was reasonable suspicion to detain for … Continue reading
OH8: SW for “Apt. #1” with white door was valid where there was only one with a white door, albeit No. 3, and officers were directed by color of door
The description of the apartment with the white door on the corner of the building, “Apt. #1,” proved incorrect because Apt. #3 was the only one with a white door. The officers executing the warrant were directed to the one … Continue reading