September 2026 S M T W T F S 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 Archives
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Recent Posts
- WaPo: Americans have turned against police cameras that track license plates, new survey shows
- W.D.Tex.: What is the duty of the neutral and detached magistrate?
- D.Me.: Yes, more investigation could have been done, but there’s still PC on what there was
- 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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
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General (many free):
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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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)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
--Federal Laws Relating to Cybersecurity: Discussion of Proposed Revisions (2012)
ACLU on privacy
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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: Nexus
E.D.Tenn.: Kidnapping investigation ultimately led police to def’s rental property; he fled when they attempted to stop him; nexus to property shown
Police investigating two robberies with kidnappings got the lead on defendant from GPS in a stolen car that gave them an address. Investigating that address gave them another lead to the place ultimately searched that the robbers were renting that … Continue reading
CA11: Prior drug sale from house was nexus for SW of house
Nexus was shown for the search of defendant’s house by the prior drug transactions that occurred inside the house. This was a seven year long conspiracy. United States v. Woodard, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 21382 (11th Cir. Nov. 30, 2016). … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Def’s going home after a drug deal shows nexus for SW for house
“Here, the affidavit provides that the confidential informant had been providing information to the task force for 11 months, he had no criminal convictions, and his information has never been found to be false or misleading. (Aff. ¶ 13.) This, … Continue reading
OH3: Showing of PC justified nexus to SW for def’s home
There was probable cause to believe that evidence of defendant’s gambling and money laundering would be found in his home because he could store records at home and run his business from there. State v. Robinson, 2016-Ohio-7823, 2016 Ohio App. … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Affidavit failed to show nexus but it wasn’t bare bones, so GFE applies
The affidavit for the search warrant for defendant’s car failed to show nexus to the crime under investigation, but it wasn’t “bare bones” so the court applies the good faith exception to sustain it. United States v. Fletcher, 2016 U.S. … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Nexus shown to connect def’s cell phone in car to potential gang retaliation
Nexus can be proved by inference or direct observation. Defendant was found in his car with weapons as a FIPF in rival gang territory when he was arrested, and it’s a reasonable inference the cell phone in the car would … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Text messages provided nexus for SW for cell phone that produced CP
Defendant lived in the heated garage converted to a bedroom of a couple with two small children. One of the children said she was touched by defendant and they ordered him out of the house. Later, a search warrant was … Continue reading
Two on good faith: No showing of PC for (1) GPS warrant and (2) nexus to def’s house
Game officers got a GPS warrant for defendant’s truck because they suspected him of hunting violations. After a couple of weeks, the truck’s movements were monitored daily. The issuance of the GPS warrant was without a finding of probable cause … Continue reading
MA: SW for a cell phone requires facts for nexus to crime, not just “experience shows”
Nexus between a cell phone’s contents and a crime has to be shown by evidence, not just the officer’s experience in similar cases. Also, the phone was seized without a warrant to protect the contents from tampering, and it was … Continue reading
OH10: Leaving house to go to drug deal and returning there was nexus to house
Nexus to defendant’s house for a drug search warrant is shown by the fact that he returned to the house immediately after a drug transaction [what does that prove? Most people go home after work] and left the house to … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Nexus shown to def’s home by his committing the crime on a computer in his house and shipping packages there
FedEx determined that packages were being diverted, and they narrowed it to a former employee in Memphis and his computer was creating fictitious labels on a hijacked FedEx account. A Franks challenge fails because the probable cause isn’t undermined. Nexus … Continue reading
D.Minn.: IP address used in P2P internet CP downloads linked to def’s one-family address was PC for SW for the computers in that house
IP address used in P2P internet child pornography downloads linked to defendant’s one-family address was probable cause for a search warrant for the computers in that house. United States v. Wylie, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113669 (D.Minn. July 18, 2016), … Continue reading
CA6: Parole search of person finding baggie of drugs in buttocks wasn’t too intrusive; not a strip search
Defendant was subjected to a parole search of his person, something permitted under Michigan law and his parole status. A baggie of drugs was found in his buttocks. The search was reasonable and only intruded somewhat on his higher privacy … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Gov’t failed to prove nexus to def’s property in SW affidavit, so no PC
The government fails to prove nexus to defendant’s property in a drug search warrant for three addresses. The lack of nexus is a lack of probable cause [and the court doesn’t even discuss good faith exception]. United States v. Harvey, … Continue reading
MA automatic standing only applies to possessory offenses, and it doesn’t apply to defendant’s murder charge
Massachusetts automatic standing only applies to possessory offenses, and it doesn’t apply to defendant’s murder charge. Commonwealth v. Miller, 475 Mass. 212, 2016 Mass. LEXIS 605 (Aug. 17, 2016). The government showed probable cause for the defendant but the connection … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Nexus to house shown by controlled buys
“[T]he affidavit only needs to show a ‘nexus’ between the place to be searched and the evidence sought. [¶] A common-sense reading of the affidavit leads to the conclusion that there is a nexus between the residence and the evidence … Continue reading
CA6: Nexus is PC for the place, not necessarily for a person in the place
Probable cause is a connection to a place to be searched, not necessarily to a person to be searched for in the place. That’s nexus. Here there was nexus. United States v. Adams, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 12793 (6th Cir. … Continue reading
D.Utah: Nexus to home for SW shown by def driving to drug deals from home
Sufficient nexus was shown for a search warrant for defendant’s home from his observed drug dealing on the street. He drove to the drug deals from his home, and other intel had him dealing at home. United States v. Galaviz-Gaxiola, … Continue reading
CA6: Nexus isn’t shown to def’s house just because his car is registered there
The search warrant for defendant’s house was not based on any nexus between his alleged offense and his house. His car was involved in drug dealing, but his car being registered at his house isn’t nexus to the house. United … Continue reading