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- VA: 12 second question about drugs didn’t unreasonably prolong the stop that was going to take a while anyway
- E.D.Tenn.: Application for SW was considered in detention ruling
- TN: RS didn’t develop to continue stop; second stop based on first suppressed
- CA4: Traffic stop immediately became firearms investigation; suppressed
- CA10: Disagreement over spelling of street name didn’t make warrant fail particularity; GFE at least would apply
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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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--Electronic Communications Privacy Act (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) -
“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: Informant hearsay
CA11: Monitoring a lawfully placed GPS device on a car is not a separate search under Knotts
Monitoring a lawfully placed GPS device on a car is not a separate search. It is lawful under Knotts, well before CSLI. United States v. Howard, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 15856 (11th Cir. May 27, 2021). The affidavit for the … Continue reading
OH10: Officers don’t need RS to approach someone on the street
Officers don’t need reasonable suspicion to approach a person for a potential consensual encounter. State v. Howard, 2021-Ohio-1792, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1734 (10th Dist. May 25, 2021). Defendant’s Facebook Live posting of him holding an AK-47 and smoking marijuana … Continue reading
CA11: Adding in the omitted information still showed PC
“Detective Tuck’s affidavit omitted some information favorable to Martelli, but even if we assume that those omissions were intentional or reckless, the claim still fails. It fails because, even including all the omitted information, a reasonable officer in Tuck’s position … Continue reading
D.Colo.: Federal law criminalizing marijuana makes dog sniff in recreational use state reasonable
Even though Colorado has decriminalized personal use of marijuana, a dog sniff is still reasonable under federal law because possession of marijuana is still a violation of federal law because it’s unlawful for “any purpose.” United States v. Spikes, 2021 … Continue reading
MD: Anonymous DWI tip was specific and supported stop on a liquor store parking lot
“Considering the totality of the circumstances, the officers had reasonable suspicion to suspect that the defendant was engaged in drunk driving. The anonymous 911 call had sufficient indicia of reliability—the tipster alleging the drunk driving provided the make, model, and … Continue reading
MI: Anonymous tip for def’s stop was uncorroborated and unreasonable
The officer stopping defendant’s vehicle lacked reasonable suspicion that defendant was engaged in criminal activity based on an anonymous tip. Even assuming that the tipster was reliable led only to the conclusion that defendant appeared to be obnoxious and was … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: Uncorroborated CI, criminal history, and inconclusive trash pull didn’t support SW for house; no GFE
“Pending before the court is Defendant’s motion to suppress 48 pounds of methamphetamine, $41,000 in cash, and all other evidence seized during a search of his residence by the Metropolitan Drug Enforcement Network Team (‘MDENT’). I find that neither the … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: Out past curfew during BLM protests was PC for stop
Officers seeing defendant driving during a BLM protest curfew in June 2020 in Louisville had probable cause for the stop. United States v. Shrivers, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77047 (W.D. Ky. Apr. 21, 2021).* A CI with a reliable track … Continue reading
CA9: Saying you just found the backpack you’re carrying in a dumpster shows no REP
“First, the court did not clearly err in finding that Gage had abandoned any reasonable expectation of privacy in the backpack by telling Officer Robinson that the group had just retrieved the backpack from a garbage dump and that he … Continue reading
OH12: EPIC check on passenger exceeded permissible bounds of traffic stop
EPIC check for picture of passenger exceeded the permissible basis of the traffic stop. There was no reason for it. Motion to suppress properly granted. State v. Shaibi, 2021-Ohio-1352, 2021 Ohio App. LEXIS 1323 (12th Dist. Apr. 19, 2021). Police … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: CI’s tip def had a gun was corroborated by def discarding it in view of officers
Police received a CI’s tip defendant had a gun. The tip alone lacked reliability until the officer saw defendant discard it. “Notably, the reasonable suspicion standard does not present the most demanding hurdle to overcome. See Kansas v. Glover, 140 … Continue reading
OR: State didn’t develop its argument about RS at the hearing, and it’s found waived
The state’s justification for inquiries about travel plans isn’t reached on appeal because it wasn’t briefed or even developed below. Instead, the questions about it related only to initial reasonable suspicion. “We conclude that the record could have developed differently … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Crime Stoppers tip was sufficiently corroborated to show PC
Crime Stoppers tip was sufficiently corroborated to show probable cause [under Gates]. United States v. Gaston, 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 65724 (D. Minn. Apr. 5, 2021):
CA4: Officers watching def on a CI’s tip saw a handshake which they surmised was a drug sale; no RS from a handshake
“In order to sustain reasonable suspicion, officers must consider the totality of the circumstances and, in doing so, must not overlook facts that tend to dispel reasonable suspicion. Here, officers relied on general information from a confidential informant; two interactions … Continue reading
NY3: CI’s alleged false statement wasn’t enough to suppress
As to an alleged false statement by the CI, it didn’t undermine the probable cause finding. People v. Cazeau, 2021 NY Slip Op 01806, 2021 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 1947 (3d Dept. Mar. 25, 2021) (nearly four years from judgment … Continue reading
CA7: Informant hearsay once removed on a controlled buy still PC
Informant hearsay once removed was still probable cause. The CI enlisted another to go get drugs from defendant and brought them back to the CI who turned them over to the police. United States v. Bacon, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA6: SW was particular because particular affidavit was incorporated
The search warrant here was particular because it incorporated the affidavit by reference, and they were attached. United States v. Evans Landscaping Inc., 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 8152 (6th Cir. Mar. 18, 2021). Defendant has no reasonable expectation of privacy … Continue reading
D.V.I.: CI’s information of def was commonly known and in paper; yet, GFE applies
The search warrant here was based on the CI’s relating largely publicly-known information, some of which was in the newspaper online. It wasn’t predictive, but all historical of criminal record, the kind of car, etc. This is close but no … Continue reading
UT: No IAC for not objecting to recording of jail phone calls for spousal privilege
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not raising spousal privilege to recorded jail telephone calls since there was no reasonable expectation of privacy in the calls where spousal privilege in this context hadn’t been raised before in the state. State v. … Continue reading
WA: Crime victim stated claim for conversion against state for return of property
A crime victim has a right to return of property pending an investigation if the state doesn’t need it for court. “Our ruling today does not undermine the City’s interest in protecting sensitive records regarding ongoing criminal investigations. Ms. Burton … Continue reading