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Recent Posts
- OH2: Stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate 4A
- RawStory Opinion: Trump just declared these parts of America are outside the Constitution (within 100 miles of any border)
- CA1: SW for iPhone 6S didn’t permit search of iPhone 13 despite same phone number
- CA7: It wasn’t a 4A violation to place a pole camera to look over def’s fence he built knowing he was under surveillance
- NM: Conflict of laws: NM exclusionary rule applies to TX 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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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
NJ: Occupants of car leaving area of a robbery not responding to light in the eyes as it passed by is not RS
The officer on his way to a robbery call used the spotlight on his patrol car to illuminate the interior of cars passing by him in the other lane. When the occupants of defendant’s car didn’t respond the same as … Continue reading
CA2: NY Family Court orders can suffice as SWs
“New York Family Court orders provide an independent basis for police officers to enter peoples’ homes. We have repeatedly recognized that, ‘[i]n child-abuse investigations, a Family Court order is equivalent to a search warrant for Fourth Amendment purposes.’ Southerland v. … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Each factor of RS alone might not be enough but totality was
“While Mr. Muldrow rightly points out the tip, his evasive behavior, and the neighborhood each standing alone, would not create reasonable suspicion, all of these factors together with Sergeant Stephan’s observation Mr. Muldrow appeared to have a gun and hid … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Def’s fumbling with papers and not knowing owner of the car he was driving and where he was was RS
A flapping paper tag that couldn’t be easily seen was reasonable justification for defendant’s stop. The stop was continued with reasonable suspicion. United States v. Carrizales, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 204252 (S.D. Tex. Nov. 2, 2020).* As to reasonable suspicion:
E.D.Va.: A Terry stop can’t be used to investigate a completed misdemeanor (noting conflicting authorities)
This anonymous tip fails under Navarette because it permits stops on no reliable information at all. Moreover, a Terry stop cannot be used to investigate a completed misdemeanor (noting the circuits to the contrary). United States v. Beasley, 2020 U.S. … Continue reading
CO: Hearing shots and seeing only one person running away from it was RS as to him
“Here, Officer Guagliardo heard multiple shots coming from an apartment complex and seconds later saw Oliver, and only Oliver, fleeing the area. When instructed to stop, Oliver ran faster. Officer Guagliardo heard screams coming from the complex. Based on the … Continue reading
KY: Traffic stop was unreasonably delayed for drug dog
The officers delayed the stop to get the drug dog to the scene. The court of appeals erred, however, in not determining reasonable suspicion. Commonwealth v. Mitchell, 2020 Ky. LEXIS 394 (Oct. 29, 2020):
OH10: Anonymous 911 call didn’t support def’s stop
A 911 anonymous tipster’s call wasn’t justification for defendant’s stop because it was wrong as to clothing and it essentially described all the black men in the area. State v. Walton, 2020-Ohio-5062, 2020 Ohio App. LEXIS 3906 (10th Dist. Oct. … Continue reading
E.D.Ky.: Vehicle stop based on the state’s Automated Vehicle Information System was reasonable
A vehicle stop based on the state’s Automated Vehicle Information System was justifiable and reasonable. United States v. Lawson, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 198220 (E.D. Ky. Oct. 1, 2020). Plaintiff has the ability to litigate the search issues in state … Continue reading
CA6: PO’s seizure of cell phone for search lacked RS and is suppressed
The probation seizure and then warranted search of defendant’s cell phone was unreasonable and conducted without reasonable suspicion. Probation seized the phone and then got a search warrant for it, but it all lacked justification. There wasn’t reasonable suspicion because … Continue reading
CA5: Examination of addresses on package was reasonable and led to RS
There was reasonable suspicion for detaining this package based on the lack of veracity of the delivery and return addresses. Examination of the package in the mail sorting system was not a search or seizure. United States v. Jones, 2020 … Continue reading
OR: Def’s consent and statements are suppressed, but the search with a warrant is not
While defendant’s consent to search and statements made were invalid, the search was pursuant to a valid warrant, and the product of the search is not suppressed. State v. Joaquin, 307 Ore. App. 314, 2020 Ore. App. LEXIS 1243 (Oct. … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: IAC for failure to investigate 4A claim fails for lack of merit on search claim
“Johnson challenges his counsel’s investigation of the charged crime and his counsel’s failure to investigate the officer involved in the search warrant, surveillance, and collection of evidence. An allegation of ‘inadequate investigation does not warrant habeas relief absent a proffer … Continue reading
Cal.4th: Google turning over CP to NCMEC was private search
Google found child pornography in emails and submitted them to NCMEC. This was a private search (which is explained in detail). It is no different than the search in Jacobsen. People v. Wilson, 2020 Cal. App. LEXIS 976 (4th Dist. … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Def failed to prove he was an overnight guest with standing
Defendant lacked standing where he purported to be an overnight guest, but the host said no. United States v. Spencer, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 191102 (N.D. Ala. Sept. 4, 2020), adopted, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 190308 (N.D. Ala. Oct. 14, … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Issuing magistrate shown not to be neutral and detached in issuing SW wholly lacking in PC
A tribal judge was not a neutral and detached magistrate, and the good faith exception did not apply. The application for the search warrant was technically deficient in both form (lacking a prosecutor’s signature) and substance (completely lacking probable cause), … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: ShotSpotter alert from a rooftop led to encounter then RS
A ShotSpotter report was specific as to a shot coming from a rooftop in the Bronx. That house was the subject of many police calls. This led to defendants being encountered by officers who discussed with them what was going … Continue reading
TX1: Driving offenses can be an indication of RS by showing avoidance of being stopped
Driving offenses can be indicators of drug trafficking and avoidance. “Therefore, based on the information he received from Captain Garrett related to appellant’s involvement in possible narcotics trafficking, combined with his observations of appellant driving on the shoulder, we conclude … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Officer doesn’t need RS before contacting def with a suspicionless search waiver
Defendant had a suspicionless parole search waiver, and the officer doesn’t even need cause for the encounter. United States v. Jackson, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189471 (N.D. Cal. Oct. 13, 2020). The affidavit for the search warrant of defendant’s tax … Continue reading
MA: CP warrant wasn’t stale where information was 7 months old and he was a collector
Defendant’s motion to suppress was properly denied. The affidavit referred to child pornography access on the internet seven months before the search warrant was sought, and it was not stale because it was likely child pornography would be found in … Continue reading