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Recent Posts
- CA6: The SW affidavit here was thin, but it wasn’t completely bare bones, so GFE applies
- D.Minn.: Extending stop to run ALPR information on car was with RS
- CA3: Ptf was arrested on an apparent but recalled warrant, then officers confirmed it and let him go; the arrest was reasonable
- N.D.Ohio: Failure to serve state SW within state mandated time not 4A violation
- NY1: Gunshot through floor from apartment above was exigency
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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)
--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: Qualified immunity
D.V.I.: On reopening suppression hearing, govt proves inevitable discovery of def’s DNA
In a prior post, United States v. Wrensford, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 138235 (D. V.I. Aug. 15, 2019), the court held that the government didn’t get the benefit of inevitable discovery of defendant’s DNA for lack of proof. The court … Continue reading
CA9: DC erred in defining 4A at too “high [a] level of generality”; school officials get QI
Plaintiff was restrained in school for behavioral problems. The case law is not clear as to whether this was a Fourth Amendment violation or not because some restraint in school is reasonable. The district court found a Fourth Amendment violation … Continue reading
CA9: Not clearly established that shooting a bloody man waving a sharp stick at adults and children at a soccer field was clearly established
Plaintiff was bloody and wielding a sharp stick at adults and children at a soccer field. He disobeyed police commands. He was finally shot when he was kneeling and far enough away from others that he was a lesser threat. … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Seeing shot man slumped against window in a motel room is quite obviously exigency
Clearly exigent circumstances for a warrantless entry into a motel room: “Based on the facts in this case, the court finds that the officers had a reasonable basis to believe that there was an immediate need to protect the safety … Continue reading
CA5: Even assuming 4A violation, ptf doesn’t show it was clearly established
“In short, we decline to opine on whether Campbell’s actions amount to a [Fourth Amendment] violation. Robles failed to meet his burden to show that such a violation was clearly established, particularly when dealing with an underlying violent crime. Accordingly, … Continue reading
E.D.Mo.: FIPF arrest justifies search incident
Defendant’s arrest for being a felon in possession justified his search incident. United States v. Westfall, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 217329 (E.D. Mo. Dec. 18, 2019).* Defendant’s detention was without reasonable suspicion and unreasonably extended. A probation officer was working … Continue reading
CA11: The lack of even arguable PC for ptf’s arrest denies the officer QI
This is a Fourth Amendment malicious prosecution claim. “The district court, upon a close analysis of the elements of the crimes alleged, determined that the facts proffered by Detective Brashears are insufficient to establish probable cause, or even arguable probable … Continue reading
Two on excessive force and QI
“We conclude that Detective Minium is entitled to qualified immunity. It was not clearly established in August 2014 that an officer uses excessive force when he tackles and uses a taser in “drive stun” mode on an individual he is … Continue reading
CA4: Search of def’s backpack and finding gun was inevitable because it would have been inventoried in any event
“The evidence presented to the district court supported a finding that the firearm inevitably would have been discovered during an inventory search of the plastic bag. Officers Lucy and DiPentima testified that it was standard procedure to inventory an arrestee’s … Continue reading
WA: Arrestee’s right to advice of right to counsel doesn’t require stopping execution of SW to tell him
While an arrestee is entitled to a prompt notice of his right to counsel, police do not have to interrupt execution of a search warrant to do it. State v. Ackerman, 2019 Wash. App. LEXIS 3023 (Dec. 2, 2019). Officers … Continue reading
CA5: Use of deadly force against an armed, dangerous, and unpredicable man was subject to QI
Officers were entitled to qualified immunity because plaintiff could not establish that they used excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment. The evidence indicated that the use of force was justified under the circumstances. Because the officers thought they … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Even if the one challenged sentence in the SW affidavit was stricken under Franks, PC would still exist
Defendant challenged one sentence in the affidavit as a Franks violation, but it doesn’t even appear to be false. Moreover, even if that sentence were stricken, there still would be probable cause, and he fails in his burden of proof. … Continue reading
CA11: Officer’s alleged lies to get arrest warrant denies QI
“With that in mind, we affirm the district court’s denial of qualified immunity. As indicated above, we accept for purposes of this appeal that Gill falsified information in the affidavits supporting his arrest warrants and therefore, he would not have … Continue reading
NY4: Summary judgment on false arrest and excessive force claim without considering officers’ testimony in underlying criminal trial was error
Summary judgment against the defendants for false arrest and excessive force was improperly granted without considering the transcript of plaintiff’s criminal trial and the officers’ testimony there. Hernandez v Denny’s Corp., 2019 NY Slip Op 08302, 2019 N.Y. App. Div. … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: Facebook photo of def felon with a firearm apparently taken in a home justified a SW for his home
Defendant’s alleged threat on Facebook involving use of firearms, along with a picture of a firearm suggested it was in a home. The search warrant of defendant’s home was with probable cause. Defendant’s effort to “dissect” the affidavit paragraph by … Continue reading
TN: Failure to include the search warrant and affidavit in the record on appeal waives the search issue
Failure to include the search warrant and affidavit in the record on appeal waives the search issue. State v. Parks, 2019 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 740 (Nov. 13, 2019). The officer gets qualified immunity because there was probable cause for … Continue reading
WV: Exclusionary rule does not apply in civil cases
DHHR obtained information about the parents from an alleged illegal stop. The exclusionary rule doesn’t apply in civil cases. In re N.R., 2019 W. Va. LEXIS 524 (Nov. 7, 2019). A game warden approached plaintiff sitting in his truck in … Continue reading
CA4: Ptf shot and paralyzed during no-knock raid states a claim and survives QI
During a no-knock entry with a battering ram by plain-clothes officers for marijuana, plaintiff heard a commotion from the back of his house, reached for a gun, and was shot at 29 times, hit 9 times, and paralyzed. The officer … Continue reading