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- CA3: Brady doesn’t apply to SW materials
- E.D.Mich.: Person a cell phone was given to as gift could consent to 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)
--Outline of Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (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
OK: Officer’s excuse for extending the stop was pretext and violated Rodriguez
The officer’s claim that defendant’s log book wasn’t up to date was a mere pretext and subterfuge to unreasonably continue the stop in violation of Rodriguez. State v. Morgan, 2019 OK CR 26, 2019 Okla. Crim. App. LEXIS 26 (Oct. … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Criminal acts on premises is not a waiver of a REP in it
Defendant did not own the premises searched, but he had a reasonable expectation of privacy in it because of his connection to it. Also, criminal acts on the premises is not a waiver of a reasonable expectation of privacy. Minnesota … Continue reading
OR: A question to a fidgety driver about weapons in the car didn’t unreasonably prolong the stop
Defendant was pulled over after passing a parked police car three times, and the officer seeing the tags were expired on the third pass. When defendant was pulled over, he was unusually fidgety. A question about weapons in the car … Continue reading
OH5: Staleness argument fails as to ongoing MJ grow operation
Information about a marijuana grow operation was ongoing by its nature, so staleness is more flexible as to it and information can be older. Also, the good faith exception would apply. State v. Laubacher, 2019-Ohio-4271, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 4343 … Continue reading
IL: Merely radioing for a drug dog did not materially extend a stop that was only 3 minutes long
This case is on post-conviction, and defendant attached a police report to his petition. Based on the police report, the mere act of radioing for a drug dog did not appreciably extend the stop which took three minutes. People v. … Continue reading
OH: On LPN check, car not matching color on registration is enough for a stop to see if it’s stolen
“When an officer encounters a vehicle the whole of which is painted a different color from the color listed in the vehicle-registration records and the officer believes, based on his experience, that the vehicle or its displayed license plates may … Continue reading
TN: Possession of meth in truck many months earlier wasn’t PC to believe it’s there now
Defendant’s alleged possession of methamphetamine in his truck many months earlier was not probable cause to believe it could still be there at the time of the search. Defendant’s possession of a meth pipe, however, gave cause to search the … Continue reading
CA6: Merely alleging pat-down search was done “without a legitimate reason” doesn’t state a 4A claim; more required
“Merely alleging that Jones’ conducting pat-down searches ‘without a legitimate reason’ is insufficient to state a plausible claim of a Fourth Amendment violation. Under the Fourth Amendment, ‘[t]he touchstone of whether a given search or seizure is reasonable is whether … Continue reading
MD: License plate reader’s alert of lack of insurance was RS for stop
The trooper’s license plate reader scan showed defendant’s vehicle had no insurance on file. That was reasonable suspicion for the stop. Gary v. State, 2019 Md. App. LEXIS 870 (Oct. 9, 2019). Also,
S.D.Ga.: It was reasonable to stop defendant and inquire where def was parked next to a dilapidated building
Defendant’s stop for parking near a dilapidated maybe abandoned structure was reasonable because the officers were justified in inquiring who he was and what he was doing. In their experience, this activity supported at least an inference that defendant might … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Arrest outside motel room still permitted protective sweep where there was RS someone else was there
Defendant was arrested outside his motel room, but that did not bar a protective sweep of the motel room where the officers had reason to believe others could be present. Baldwin v. United States, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175253 (N.D. … Continue reading
ID: State’s claim of exigency for warrantless entry into house was unsupported; suppression affirmed
Defendant was allegedly selling tainted marijuana from his house. Police did a warrantless entry with exigency as the excuse. There wasn’t any claim that anybody inside was in distress, and no questions about it. Suppression affirmed. State v. Sessions, 2019 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Govt’s stated intent to forfeit requires motion for return of property be denied
Motion for return of property seized five weeks ago is denied. The government will image electronics and return them. That which is subject to forfeiture has to await it. United States v. Wells, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 168017 (D. Nev. … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: 4A IAC claim denied for not specifying what it would prove and because waived by plea
“Petitioner’s Claim 9 is likewise conclusory and without merit. Petitioner claims that counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate a potential Fourth Amendment violation regarding Petitioner’s consent to search his residence and computer. However, Petitioner has not explained how such … Continue reading
KS: Words spoken on one’s curtilage heard off the property are not protected by the 4A
Defendant was convicted of violating an order of protection for speaking disparagingly about the other person. She made the comment from her curtilage to her husband but loud enough to be heard across the street where the other person lived. … Continue reading
OH2: Road rage: Panicked driver’s pointing out car that pointed gun justified stop under Navarette and Long permitted protective search for weapon
“Based upon the informant’s face-to-face, contemporaneous, and panicked report of a startling event (the waving of a gun in the vehicle directly behind Underwood’s cruiser), we conclude that the informant’s tip was reliable. This reliability allowed Underwood ‘to credit the … Continue reading
LA: Two Rodriguez violations: car searched for weapon without RS then female officer called for a body search
Defendant was detained unreasonably without reasonable suspicion and then her car was searched for a weapon but none was found. Then the detaining officer called for a female officer to conduct a search of her person. “Because reasonable suspicion was … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: The single question “are there any weapons in the car” doesn’t extend the stop in violation of Rodriguez
“Even assuming here that the single question, whether there were any weapons in the car, was not related to the mission of the traffic stop, the question did not violate the Fourth Amendment because it did not lengthen the traffic … Continue reading