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- S.D.Fla.: SW for def’s house included his tent outside
- 404 Media: Flock: LAPD Regularly Pulled Over Innocent People Because License Plate Readers Flagged Their Cars As Stolen
- 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
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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)
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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
CA6: “In this respect, we must be mindful of the particular exigencies presented to the officers, who must make decisions to safeguard their own and the public’s safety under the fog of rapidly developing situations and without the luxury of complete information.”
Individually, none of the factors of reasonable suspicion was enough, but collectively they were. “In this respect, we must be mindful of the particular exigencies presented to the officers, who must make decisions to safeguard their own and the public’s … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Arguing for trespass rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy standard doesn’t enhance the likelihood of showing standing
Arguing for trespass rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy standard doesn’t enhance the likelihood of showing standing. “Proceeding under the trespass theory, rather than the reasonable expectation of privacy theory, defendants have not demonstrated that they have a possessory … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Motion for return of property denied until post-conviction process over
Defendants moved for return of their property after conviction and the appeal was affirmed. The government gets to keep it pending conclusion of any collateral review which might be filed. United States v. Banks, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107994 (D.Colo. … Continue reading
IA: Def counsel not charged with anticipating changes in law; no IAC for not arguing an issue adopted two years after appeal
Defense counsel was not ineffective for not arguing an issue that was not decided for the defense under the state constitution until two years after his appeal was decided. Counsel is not charged with anticipating changes in the law under … Continue reading
N.D.Fla.: Showing up at a prearranged drop point, a motel room, was RS
Showing up at a prearranged drop point, a motel room, was reasonable suspicion that the defendant was there with the drugs. United States v. Mendoza, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 109526 (N.D.Fla. August 18, 2015).* A worker’s gesture was not consent … Continue reading
MA: A license plate reader is not treated as an anonymous informant with little or no credibility
A license plate reader is not treated as an anonymous informant with little or no credibility. It is based on a database that is sufficiently reliable to based a stop on. Commonwealth v. Ramos, 2015 Mass. App. LEXIS 116 (August … Continue reading
D.Kan.: LPN being unassigned was justification for a stop and then the use of a drug dog wasn’t unreasonable
Defendant’s stop was based on the LPN coming back “not assigned,” and then the officer smelled alcohol on him. The use of the drug dog during all this did not extend the stop and was not unreasonable. United States v. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: To get a hearing on a motion to suppress, defendant has to allege facts sufficient to provide relief
To get a hearing on a motion to suppress, defendant has to allege facts sufficient to provide relief, if they can be proved. United States v. Ochoa, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 105925 (N.D.Ga. July 8, 2015). Officers had reasonable suspicion … Continue reading
AK: Drug paraphernalia and meth were found by plain feel
On defendant’s stop, the officer saw a cut off straw in defendant’s shirt pocket, and a frisk was justified because of hands in the pockets. The frisk of his thin material shorts revealed a lighter and more straws and it … Continue reading
CA7: CI’s prediction of route of travel confirmed by GPS planted with SW was PC
CI’s prediction of defendant’s route of travel with heroin was corroborated by GPS placed on defendant’s car with a warrant. United States v. Reaves, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13745 (7th Cir. August 6, 2015). A citizen informant called DC Metro … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Driving in tandem with a load of drugs justified frisk of occupants because of potential for weapons
Defendant was stopped because he was apparently driving in tandem with another vehicle carrying drugs that was stopped, and he ran a red light. Because it was a drug case and defendant was operating countersurveillance, a frisk for weapons was … Continue reading
S.D.Ill.: A blood trail at a house 2½ hours after a shooting with missing participants was exigency
The previous night there was a shootout in East St. Louis in defendant’s neighborhood, some shots a block from defendant. Two people ended up in the hospital, neither associated with defendant’s address. In investigating at defendant’s house 2½ hours later, … Continue reading
NC: A broken window and screen off is not an exigency without a burglary call or more information
A broken window at a house and a screen leaning against the house without other objective evidence of a break in was not reasonable cause to believe that there was a recent or ongoing burglary to justify a police entry … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Failure to show or leave a copy of the SW or make the inventory in the def’s presence has nothing to do with his statements
“Defendant James Allen Crippen filed a Motion to Suppress Evidence in the matter (Doc. 25) in which he argues that officers executing a search warrant at his home violated Rule 41 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and the … Continue reading
MA: Asking def what was in his mouth was a seizure without RS (it was a baggie of crack)
Officers encountered defendant on the street. He mumbled when he talked to them, and they asked what was in his mouth. That became a seizure. “We conclude that a reasonable person would not have felt free to terminate the encounter, … Continue reading
E.D.Ark.: Inevitable discovery applies; def counsel overlooked suppression motion, but it wouldn’t have won
The state conceded that defense counsel’s failure to file a motion to suppress satisfied the performance prong of Strickland. At issue, however, was the prejudice prong, and that failure did not amount to prejudice because the evidence would have been … Continue reading
DE: Search warrant for some things and “other items that may be stolen” wasn’t overbroad where officers used a list
A Franks challenge in Delaware requires an affidavit from the defendant, and there isn’t one. The Franks claim is, at best, only a conclusory statement that the officer had an ends-justifies-the-means mentality, but, as a whole, probable cause is shown. … Continue reading
FL5: With PC, a vehicle search can occur with or without a warrant
The officer here had probable cause the vehicle contained contraband and he could have searched under the automobile exception. Instead he got a warrant. “See Chambers v. Maroney, 399 U.S. 42, 52, 90 S. Ct. 1975, 26 L. Ed. 2d … Continue reading