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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16)
by John Wesley Hall
Criminal Defense Lawyer and
Search and seizure law consultant
Little Rock, Arkansas
Contact: forhall @ aol.com / The Book
www.johnwesleyhall.com© 2003-21,
online since Feb. 24, 2003
WebPage Visits: real non-robot hits since 2010; approx. about 30,000 posts since 2003~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and linksLatest Slip Opinions:
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Foreign Intell.Surv.Ct.
FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
Military Courts: C.A.A.F., Army, AF, N-M, CG, SF
State courts (and some USDC opinions)
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LII State Appellate Courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $Research Links:
Supreme Court:
SCOTUSBlog
S. Ct. Docket
Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
"On the Docket"–Medill
S.Ct. Monitor: Law.com
S.Ct. Com't'ry: Law.com
General (many free):
LexisWeb
Google Scholar | Google
LexisOne Legal Website Directory
Crimelynx
Lexis.com $
Lexis.com (criminal law/ 4th Amd) $
Findlaw.com
Findlaw.com (4th Amd)
Westlaw.com $
F.R.Crim.P. 41
www.fd.org
Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
DEA Agents Manual (2002) (download)
DOJ Computer Search Manual (2009) (pdf)
Stringrays (ACLU No. Cal.) (pdf)
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
Privacy Foundation
Electronic Frontier Foundation
NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Criminal Appeal (post-conviction) (9th Cir.)
Section 1983 Blog"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. It isn't, and they don't."
—Me“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"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"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]“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
"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."
---Pepé Le Pew
—Johnson v. United States, 333 U.S. 10, 13-14 (1948)
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Category Archives: Arrest or entry on arrest
WA: Prior knowledge of arrest warrant became stale
Stale information that a warrant existed for defendant was not probable cause when the warrant had been recalled, and no one checked the day of the arrest. State v. Pines, 2021 Wash. App. LEXIS 1160 (May 10, 2021). Subpoenas to … Continue reading
CA9: In civil challenge to PC to arrest, PC determination at preliminary hearing usually binding
In a civil case over probable cause to arrest, the USMJ’s determination of probable cause at the preliminary hearing will not be revisited absent a showing of judicial deception. Martinez v. United States, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 13888 (9th Cir. … Continue reading
FL2: Open container city code violation justifies SI
An open container in violation of municipal ordinance justifies a search incident in Florida. State v. Coleman, 2021 Fla. App. LEXIS 6497 (Fla. 2d DCA May 7, 2021):
KY: Violation of city code doesn’t justify stop
Defendant’s alleged violation of the city code, a violation, didn’t authorize a warrantless arrest and his stop. Commonwealth v. Wilson, 2021 Ky. App. LEXIS 65 (Apr. 30, 2021). Without explanation, there was probable cause for search of defendant’s cell phone … Continue reading
D.N.J.: Protective sweep of hotel room of armored car robbery suspect was reasonable
“Here, the uncontested facts justify a protective sweep of the hotel room. Detective Holmes testified that at the time of Defendant’s arrest, there was still a suspect in the armored truck robbery at-large whose whereabouts were unknown. … As such, … Continue reading
KS: Paying for a car you don’t own doesn’t give standing
Just because defendant paid for the car he was a passenger in, it wasn’t his. He lacked standing in the car. State v. Scheuerman, 2021 Kan. App. LEXIS 15 (Apr. 16, 2021). 2255 petitioner’s claim the video to his surveillance … Continue reading
CA9: Inaccuracies in SW’s place to be searched didn’t misdirect officers; QI applies
The inaccuracies in the search warrant the officer sought weren’t enough to misidentify the place to be searched. Therefore, defendants didn’t violate clearly established law. Hill v. County of Benewah, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 10781 (9th Cir. Apr. 15, 2021).* … Continue reading
ID: Violation of citizen’s arrest statute not a const’l violation; no suppression
The officer arrested defendant for a completed misdemeanor of stealing a cell phone not occurring in his presence. The manager of the place where it happened wanted defendant arrested. The officer and the manager never informed defendant this was a … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Warrantless arrest with PC in public place is reasonable
Defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights were not violated when he was arrested without a warrant with probable cause in a public place. Reaching in defendant’s sweat shirt pocket to retrieve a gun was reasonable. United States v. Kelly-Sizer, 2021 U.S. Dist. … Continue reading
ID: Hot pursuit to execute an arrest warrant with entry is reasonable
Hot or “fresh pursuit” to execute an arrest warrant with entry is reasonable. State v. Clark, 2021 Ida. LEXIS 55 (Mar. 30, 2021):
CA5: Ptf’s § 1983 case over his search implies invalidity of the conviction, and it’s barred by Heck
Plaintiff’s § 1983 case against his search and seizure implies invalidity of the conviction, and it’s barred by Heck. VanBuren v. Walker, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 9115 (5th Cir. Mar. 29, 2021). “As to Hoffert’s remaining claim for violation of … Continue reading
CA3: Nexus shown to def’s home for SW for clothing worn in robbery
When the object of a search is clothing worn during a robbery, there is nexus to defendant’s home. United States v. Ross, 2021 U.S. App. LEXIS 7701 (3d Cir. Mar. 17, 2021). Defendant answered the officer’s knock on the door … Continue reading
N.D.Okla.: Failure to pay arrest warrant doesn’t violate 4A
A failure to pay arrest warrant issued on probable cause doesn’t violate the Fourth Amendment because that’s only to start the process, not end it. Graff v. Aberdeen II, Inc., 2021 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46760 (N.D. Okla. Mar. 12, 2021):
M.D.Ala.: Some force inheres in any arrest; de minimus force is reasonable
Some amount of force occurs in any arrest. The question is unreasonableness. “Garrett’s conclusory allegation regarding Williams’s specific actions establishes no more than the use of de minimis force by Williams, which does not constitute a Fourth Amendment violation.” Garrett … Continue reading
CA6: Def doesn’t show arrest was delayed to facilitate better protective sweep
The protective sweep finding defendant’s guns on execution of his arrest warrant was reasonable. Defendant does not show that the officers intentionally delayed his arrest with the purpose of exploiting a protective sweep. United States v. Cammon, 2021 U.S. App. … Continue reading
CA7: Claim of lack of PC for arrest not insulated from later review by a judicial finding of PC for trial
Plaintiffs’ Fourth Amendment claim they were arrested without probable cause survives the state trial court finding enough to hold them for trial. “The Supreme Court held that a Fourth Amendment theory based on lack of probable cause survives a judicial … Continue reading
SD: Def’s assault on police officer can’t be suppressed because the arrest was illegal
Defendant’s assault on a police officer attempting to arrest her can’t be suppressed because the arrest might be unreasonable. State v. Schumacher, 2021 SD 16, 2021 S.D. LEXIS 28 (Mar. 3, 2021). The stop was valid based on a registration … Continue reading
CA2: A mere hunch there was an arrest warrant made stop unreasonable
It was clearly established law in January 2015 that an officer’s unconfirmed hunch that an arrest warrant might possibly exist, coupled with nothing more than the officer’s recognition of a suspect from prior arrests, did not constitute reasonable suspicion justifying … Continue reading
