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Recent Posts
- CA8: Admission of anonymous tip that led to stop violated Confrontation Clause
- CO: Anonymous report of student smoking pot in school justified backpack search
- CA6: CI’s lie to get into def’s house to video him making a drug deal with the CI didn’t violate 4A
- TN: Def lived in a van left wide open in a public area, but it didn’t belong to him, so no REP as to interior
- VI: Despite ubiquity of cell phones, nexus has to be shown to alleged crime
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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: Warrant requirement
OH3: Oral testimony for SW doesn’t have to be transcribed before SW served
Oral testimony in support of issuance of a search warrant did not have to be transcribed and made part of the record before the warrant was served. State v. Wilson, 2017-Ohio-5484, 2017 Ohio App. LEXIS 2544 (3d Dist. June 26, … Continue reading
OR: There is no state constitutional requirement the state get a telephonic warrant to avoid exigency
The state showed adequate evidence that it would take 4-5 hours to obtain a search warrant in this case, and that was enough to show exigency here. The defense put on proof that the state could have obtained a telephonic … Continue reading
D.D.C.: Google has to produce e-mails on server in Ireland, declining to follow 2d Cir. in Microsoft II
After Second Circuit split 4-4 on whether Google could be compelled to provide e-mails stored in a server in Ireland by a warrant, a USMJ in D.C. holds that Google has to produce e-mails stored on that server. In the … Continue reading
IN: Unchallenged SW that led to tax assessment made seizure reasonable
“In their second amended complaint, the Garwoods did assert a Fourth Amendment claim. … It is unclear what became of it, as it was still live when the State moved for summary judgment and survived that motion. In any event, … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: SW materials not yet releasable because investigation is ongoing; defense can get it later
The search warrant materials in this case are not released yet because the case is still pretrial and there is investigative and CI information that shouldn’t be disclosed yet. “In evaluating a common law claim of access to judicial documents, … Continue reading
IA: Failure to sign SW affidavit when sworn can be cured by testimony
The affiant swore to the affidavit for search warrant before the issuing magistrate, but it inadvertently wasn’t signed. That’s an error cured by testimony, even if the magistrate has to testify too. State v. Angel, 2017 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 41 … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Def’s unsupported allegation judge didn’t sign SW overcome by officer’s testimony
Defendant’s unsupported testimony that the search warrant does not appear to have a judge’s original signature on it fails in the face of testimony from the officer that he saw the judge sign it. The fact it took 120 days … Continue reading
CA5: SW for 320 CR 401 didn’t include 320A; telephonic warrant fails for lack of a record of what caused to issue
A search warrant for 320 CR 401 did not objectively include 320A CR 401, a different address and building 200 yards away with a separate electric meter, so summary judgment was improperly granted the police. In addition, a telephone warrant … Continue reading
TN: Procedural errors in handling the paperwork of a SW after execution are overlooked if no prejudice
Alleged mishandling of the paperwork on a search warrant for new DNA in a cold case hit could have resulted in a motion to suppress, but it’s not obvious that it would be granted because procedural defects in the return … Continue reading
CAAFlog: Argument Preview: Considering whether the Fourth Amendment requires a temporal limitation for a search in United States v. Richards, No. 16-0727/AF
CAAFlog: Argument Preview: Considering whether the Fourth Amendment requires a temporal limitation for a search in United States v. Richards, No. 16-0727/AF by Zachary D Spilman:
IN: 4A doesn’t require a SW be obtained at the earliest possible time
Officers were tipped off to the defendant coming through with drugs eight hours before he was stopped. The stop was for speeding and weaving, and a drug dog was used which alerted. The fact the officers had eight hours warning … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Typo in the affidavit for SW didn’t merit suppression; when corrected, no staleness
The wiretap underlying the search warrant has already been sustained by the USDJ, so that can’t support suppressing the search. Defendant’s Franks challenge to the affidavit because of the date is really just a typo (2004 v. 2012), so it … Continue reading
LA5: Typo as to IP source in CP case was irrelevant to existence of probable cause
A typographical error as to defendant’s internet provider did not undermine the probable cause for the search warrant for his child pornography on his computer. It has nothing to do with the probable cause. State v. Shiell, 2016 La. App. … Continue reading
IN: Cell phone photograph of SW sent to officer’s phone satisfied the statute for officer to have warrant for search
The officer here needed a search warrant for defendant’s blood for suspicion of DUI. When the warrant was issued, a photograph of it was sent to his cell phone. Defendant objected to the form of the warrant claiming that it … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: USMJ accidentally crossing out a paragraph when a single sentence about no-knock was intended to be struck didn’t undermine PC; judge deciding the case made the mistake
The USMJ who issued the search warrant decides its validity. An entire paragraph was crossed out, but the court says that it only intended to cross out the no-knock authorization. Since the warrant was signed and the officers were directed … Continue reading
LA rule permitting electronic warrant applications and issuance doesn’t violate 4A or Rule 41
The police got a search warrant from a Louisiana state judge by electronic means, but the case ended up in federal court. Louisiana’s criminal rule permitting electronic warrant applications does not violate the “oath or affirmation” requirement of the Fourth … Continue reading
D.V.I.: Telephonic warrant requirements were complied with and GFE didn’t apply
The telephonic search warrant here failed the requirements of Rule 41, including the verbatim reading of the warrant to the issuing judge, and didn’t mention that they also wanted to search a car that was omitted from the warrant. The … Continue reading
CO: Humane Society employee not statutorily authorized to procure SW, but court refuses to suppress
While an “animal protection agent” of the Humane Society is not statutorily authorized to seek a search warrant under Colorado law, the court refuses to suppress because there was probable cause and the warrant was otherwise executed reasonably. People v. … Continue reading
NC: Failure to give inventory to target of search doesn’t lead to suppression
The inventory to be given to the person from whom stuff was seized has to be given, but a failure to comply doesn’t warrant suppression. It’s after the search so it doesn’t involve the right to be free from unreasonable … Continue reading