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- D.Mont.: Delay of USPS Express Mail for dog sniff didn’t violate 4A
- S.D.W.Va.: Warrantless arrest at door for CSAM didn’t support plain view seizure of cell phone
- OH2: Parking on the grass justified stop
- CA11: NCMEC’s cybertips are reliable enough to support PC and the GFE
- MS: Execution style murder in public in broad daylight was exigency to get suspect’s CSLI
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Feedspot’s Best Legal Blogs and Websites 2023-2026,
also, firm website Top 90 Criminal Law Blogs 2026 -
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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)
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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: Abandonment
E.D.N.Y.: Losing one’s cell phone at the scene of the crime is a loss of any reasonable expectation of privacy in it
A defendant who loses his cell phone at the scene of a crime has abandoned it by not safeguarding his privacy. This was 2009, and, besides, Riley doesn’t apply to abandoned phones. United States v. Quashie, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA3: Throwing three bags over a fence and walking away was an abandonment
Police wanted to talk to defendant in a child pornography investigation, and they learned he was at a storage unit he rented. When defendant saw the police, he threw three bags (“tote bag, a zippered duffel bag, and a wheeled … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Defendant running off into the desert while handcuffed was abandonment of the bag he had at his feet
Defendant “abandoned his reasonable expectation of privacy when he ran and left the satchel unattended in the desert. The bag was placed next to him by Agent Fletcher. Although it may have been difficult for the defendant to retrieve the … Continue reading
NC: RS came from hand-to-hand transaction observed by one of officer’s CIs
The officer had reasonable suspicion to stop defendant after an apparent hand-to-hand transaction where the officer recognized him as one of his former CIs who bought drugs for him. State v. Travis, 2016 N.C. App. LEXIS 105 (Jan. 19, 2016). … Continue reading
FL3: Taking a dog’s dead body to a vet for disposal is an abandonment
Defendant took an injured puppy to a veterinarian for treatment, and then he took it home. Later, the animal died, and he took it back to the vet for a group cremation of the remains. The vet did a necropsy … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Hysterical wife harmed by def could abandon backpack on street that he left with her before flight
Probation officers first responded to a shots fired call ½ block from the Las Vegas jail and they encountered a couple in an alley, and defendant was holding a pink backpack. He handed it to the woman and fled. Police … Continue reading
FL3: Police denied SW of a box for lack of nexus x-rayed it finding a gun; then SW issued
Defendant abandoned any reasonable expectation of privacy in a black box he took from his home and placed in a neighbor’s trash receptacle while there was a fire next door. The officer saw him do it, got permission from the … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: Gun abandoned in flight from police wasn’t the product of an illegal seizure
Abandoned firearm in flight from the police in an allegedly illegal stop isn’t a seizure, and the gun is admissible. United States v. Giles, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 200 (W.D.Pa. Jan. 4, 2016).* The CI’s tip was that he’d seen … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Even if def’s stop was without RS, his flight and subsequent traffic violations were an independent basis for arrest
Officers had reasonable suspicion to approach defendant’s vehicle for being engaged in a pending drug sale. “However, even if officers lacked reasonable suspicion to support the stop of defendant’s vehicle, the Court finds that defendant’s attempt to flee from law … Continue reading
WI: John Doe campaign finance investigation special prosecutor invalidly appointed; all materials gathered by SW and subpoena must be destroyed
In the Wisconsin campaign finance John Doe investigation with a special prosecutor, the state Supreme Court concludes that the appointment of the special prosecutor was statutorily invalid, and the materials gathered by search warrant and subpoena will ultimately have to … Continue reading
CA11: Cell phone with CP on it was lost in a Wal-mart then abandoned
Defendants lost their cell phone in a Wal-Mart. The person finding the phone looked in it to see if there was identifying information, but there wasn’t. The phone wasn’t password protected. The person handling it found what appeared to be … Continue reading
NY2: Def was accosted on the street without reasonable suspicion, and def’s flight and abandonment was precipitated by unlawful police action
Defendant fled from the police and dropped a gun. His being accosted was without reasonable suspicion and his flight was not reason to arrest. Dropping the gun while being chased is suppressed. “Detective Lunt’s experience with gang activity, his awareness … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Parolee with traffic warrants fleeing from car and tossing keys justified parole search of car
Las Vegas officers were randomly running license plates and they ran a Saturn’s plates on a Walgreen’s parking lot after the occupant went into the store. It showed that the owner had outstanding traffic warrants and was on parole. The … Continue reading
MO: Omission from affidavit that CI was “working off a case” not material–it’s virtually a given
An alleged material omission for Franks purposes was not material because adding it in would essentially be misleading. Telling the issuing magistrate that the CI was “working off a case” isn’t really required under Franks because that’s usually a given … Continue reading
SC: Abandoning cell phone at a crime scene is a waiver of REP, even if it’s password protected
Leaving a cell phone at the scene of a crime and making no effort to reclaim it is an abandonment. Even having a passcode on the phone doesn’t overcome abandonment, following People v. Daggs, 133 Cal. App. 4th 361, 34 … Continue reading
E.D.Tex.: Gunshots inside a house, screaming, and blood outside was exigent circumstances
Gunshots inside a house, screaming, and blood outside was exigent circumstances. [Yet it was argued it wasn’t. Hey, sometimes we have to.] United States v. Vanhorn, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 127261 (E.D.Tex. September 21, 2015). A doctor was denied qualified … Continue reading
W.D.Pa.: No standing in an overdue rental car in somebody else’s name
Defendant had no standing in a rental car that was overdue and rented by somebody else who let him drive it. A representative of the rental car company came to the scene to retrieve it, and he consented to a … Continue reading
CA4: Landlord could consent; defendant had been evicted and locks changed
Defendant had been evicted from his apartment by the landlord who had changed the locks. He had also expressed to her a desire to vacate and was leaving unwanted stuff behind. The landlord could not produce the key because her … Continue reading
TX1: Cell phone was properly seized incident to arrest because def was attempting to leave the place of detention
Defendant was stopped after coming out of a bathroom when a 13 year old boy told his mother that a man in the bathroom flashed something shiny at him under the stall wall. When the officer confronted him, he was … Continue reading