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- 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
- OH7: Magistrate signing SW for something outside of territorial jurisdiction not a 4A violation
- OH2: Stop outside the officer’s jurisdiction doesn’t violate 4A
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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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Congressional Research Service:
--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (2012)
--Overview of the 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
The Crime Report: Stop and Fix? How the ‘High-Crime Area’ Defense Has Licensed Bad Policing
The Crime Report: Stop and Fix? How the ‘High-Crime Area’ Defense Has Licensed Bad Policing by James M. Doyle:
CA11: “Rule 41(g) is not an appropriate vehicle for the return of property seized by civil forfeiture.”
“Rule 41(g) is not an appropriate vehicle for the return of property seized by civil forfeiture.” United States v. Bynum, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 17510 (11th Cir. June 12, 2019). Defendant’s claim there was a reasonable expectation of privacy as … Continue reading
RI: IP address in CP case is PC for the premises
Rhode Island decides for the first time that IP information in a child pornography case is probable cause for the building at that location. Yes, it could be another person at that address, but that’s not the point. In re … Continue reading
Cal.4: Anticipating that def would drive without headlights isn’t RS for a stop
Defendant was stopped for being parked with only foglights on, the officer thinking that he was about to drive without headlights on, but the stop wasn’t justified. (A kind of anticipatory reasonable suspicion.) People v. Kidd, 2019 Cal. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
D.Me.: False name justified extending traffic stop for dog sniff
“The dog sniff began roughly 12 minutes and 45 seconds into the traffic stop. At that point, Martin had provided two driver’s licenses that spelled his name differently and had verbally provided a separate birth date that did not match … Continue reading
IL: Delaying stop to call car rental company wasn’t reasonable
Defendant was driving a Hertz rental car, and the delay of the stop to call Hertz was not within the mission of a traffic stop for speeding. “Similarly, we reject the State’s argument that the call to Hertz can be … Continue reading
IA: Smell of MJ alone is PC for a search
“Iowa Supreme Court precedent holds that the odor of marijuana emanating from a person, by itself, when detected by a police officer, who has adequate knowledge and training to recognize the smell, constitutes probable cause. The district court incorrectly found … Continue reading
PA: Officer’s belief of possession of a concealed firearm is not RS for a stop and frisk
Officer’s belief of possession of a concealed firearm is not reasonable suspicion of unlawful use of a firearm. Prior case law from 1991 is disapproved. Commonwealth v. Hicks, 2019 Pa. LEXIS 3064 (May 31, 2019):
E.D.Ky.: Officer consulting prosecutor about SW before issuance is a factor in GFE
The officer’s consulting a prosecutor on the search warrant isn’t conclusive on good faith, but it is an important factor. United States v. Anderson, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90265 (E.D. Ky. May 29, 2019). There was probable cause for the … Continue reading
OH10: Aside from the SW for def’s house, there was PC to stop him in his car leaving for his arrest
Officers had a search warrant for defendant’s premises. Based on a controlled buy, there was also probable cause to independently stop him leaving his own house. State v. Taylor, 2019-Ohio-2018, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 2088 (10th Dist. May 23, 2019). … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Administrative burdens overcome presumption of right of access to 13 years worth of SW materials
The court denies a broad request for 13 years worth of surveillance search warrant materials. The presumption of accessibility of the materials is overcome by the extensive administrative burdens of reviewing so many files. The litigants in each case where … Continue reading
SC: Three psuedo buys in one day was RS, and the smell of ammonia at his house justified a protective sweep
Defendant’s three purchases of pseudoephedrine in one day was reasonable suspicion that he had a meth lab to support a protective sweep because, when the dwelling door was opened, the smell of ammonia was overwhelming. State v. Kotowski, 2019 S.C. … Continue reading
S.D.Tex.: Stop in a high crime area justified a 7 minute wait for backup to arrive before the officer completed the stop
Stop in a high crime area justified a seven minute wait for backup to arrive before the officer completed the stop. “ When Defendants pulled over, they parked in an apartment complex Officer Cruz knew to be frequently the location … Continue reading
OH4: Def’s coming to site of execution of SW and then hanging around next door justified a detention and frisk
Defendant came to the site of execution of a search warrant and was justifiably detained. “First, the court found that Deputy Robison was justified as part of his efforts to secure a safe search site because Collins arrived on the … Continue reading
NC: Failure to object to satellite-based monitoring in trial court was waiver
Defendant didn’t raise the constitutionality of satellite-based monitoring in the trial court, so it’s waived for appeal. He also can’t bring it up by certiorari. State v. DeJesus, 2019 N.C. App. LEXIS 384 (May 7, 2019). Reasonable suspicion developed at … Continue reading
OH: Officers responding to nearby shots fired were justified in stop def, the only person around
Officers heard nearby gunshots and approached the only person in the vicinity with guns drawn and did a frisk of the person. The frisk was justified by reasonable suspicion, and drawing firearms didn’t convert the stop into a seizure. State … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: Typo in SW address overlooked under GFE
Typographical error in the search warrant (648 South 21st Street rather than 748 South 21st Street) would be overlooked under the good faith exception where the correct property was searched. United States v. Carey, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 74140 (M.D. … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Tribal officers can stop non-Indians for apparent offenses on tribal lands
While tribes generally do not have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, tribal officers can stop people for apparent offenses on tribal lands. Defendant’s pretextual stop argument is rejected because there was an objective basis for it. United States v. Santistevan, 2019 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def’s stop for jaywalking at an uncontrolled intersection didn’t justify his patdown for weapons
Defendant’s stop for jaywalking at an uncontrolled intersection didn’t justify his patdown for weapons. United States v. Jacobs, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70241 (D. Nev. Apr. 25, 2019). Summary judgment for existence of probable cause in a § 1983 case … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Consensual encounter still requires RS for frisk, which the officer had
“Applying these principles to the facts of this case, the Court finds Moreno’s encounter with the officers was consensual until Sergeant Meola, without Moreno’s consent, initiated a protective frisk by touching Moreno’s outer clothing and the bulge he saw under … Continue reading