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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 -
© 2003-25,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 500,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 47,000 posts since 2003 (30,000+ on WordPress as of 12/31/24) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
citations, and links -
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FDsys, many district courts, other federal courts
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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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Solicitor General's site
SCOTUSreport
Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
Oyez Project (NWU)
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General (many free):
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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)
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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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NACDL’s Domestic Drone Information Center
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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 -
"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] -
“You know, most men would get discouraged by now. Fortunately for you, I am not most men!”
---Pepé Le Pew -
"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, Little Rock 
Category Archives: Arrest or entry on arrest
CA8 (en banc): Takedown of non-violent misdemeanant walking away was subject to QI
Defendant officer’s takedown of a misdemeanant who was walking away from him wasn’t clearly established and he gets qualified immunity. Kelsay v. Ernst, 2019 U.S. App. LEXIS 24059 (8th Cir. Aug. 13, 2019) (en banc; 4 dissents)*:
S.D.Ga.: Suspicionless probation search condition doesn’t need to be part of the sentencing order to be valid
Defendant was properly subject to a suspicionless state probation condition. He had no right to have it announced in court as a part of the sentence. It occurs by operation of law. United States v. Linder, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Court describes a protective sweep as a search incident to arrest and leaves confusion
Defendant was arrested on his porch, but one could see the bedroom from there. Officers did not have a search warrant. He requested an officer to turn off the stove. A protective sweep of the bedroom was valid. “Deputy Thomas … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Photographing the naked body of unconscious Taser victim in the hospital stated a claim and overcame QI
Plaintiff was unconscious in the hospital when the defendants manipulated her naked body to photograph Taser marks. She stated a claim under a 1963 Ninth Circuit case that overcame qualified immunity. Young v. Pena, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 131641 (W.D. … Continue reading
CA8: Camper next to house was covered by SW for house
Defendant’s camper was on the curtilage right next to the house and connected by “living debris” [junk?], and “not noticeably separate from the garage, it was covered by the search warrant, whether or not it was a vehicle for Fourth … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: Knocking on hotel room door and grabbing def to pull him out, even with an arrest warrant, violated his constitutionally protected area
Defendant answered the door of his hotel room, and he was pulled into the hallway and officers entered the room. Their justification: They understood he had a sawed off shotgun. But, they lacked any real factual justification that he actually … Continue reading
MO: Def’s talking too fast and not looking as good as DL photo isn’t RS
The state trooper’s focus on defendant’s purse had nothing to do with the traffic stop, and it extended the stop. Her talking fast and not looking as good as the DL photo is not reasonable suspicion. The trial court’s suppression … Continue reading
CA4: Denial of post-trial Franks motion here subject to plain error review
Defendant’s motion for a Franks hearing came post-trial. The court of appeals declines to deny it for lack of timeliness and denies it on the merits. The Franks burden is heavy, and the record is scant. So, he’s relegated to … Continue reading
IL: Chicago PD’s “investigative alert” arrest is without judicially approved PC and unconstitutional
“Cordell Bass was arrested solely on the authority of what the Chicago Police Department calls an ‘investigative alert.’ Department regulations allow officers to arrest people on the basis of an alert where there is probable cause to believe the suspect … Continue reading
MI: Reaching out one’s door to pass identification doesn’t justify a “hot pursuit.” Protection of home is highest 4A value
Reaching out one’s door to pass identification doesn’t justify a “hot pursuit.” “In this case we must decide whether defendant’s constitutional right to be free from unreasonable seizures was violated when a police officer entered her home to complete her … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Protective sweep during execution of arrest warrant was justified; four others inside
Officers came in with an arrest warrant, and the further protective sweep was justified because others were found inside. That protective sweep produced a sawed off shotgun. United States v. Ford, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107424 (N.D. Ind. June 27, … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Four month old information about guns in a drug SW on three day old information wasn’t stale
The affidavit for search warrant mentioned methamphetamine as something to be seized, and there was probable cause for it. Four month old information about firearms on the premises in a drug search warrant on information 72 hours old wasn’t stale … Continue reading
ID: Right-result, wrong-theory rule requires preservation of the alternative argument
The state can’t use the right-result, wrong-theory rule when it doesn’t preserve the alternative argument to give the other party the opportunity to develop the record. State v. Hoskins, 2019 Ida. LEXIS 108 (June 13, 2019). The evidence available to … Continue reading
LA3: “Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.”
“Defendant may not retreat to the curtilage of his home to avoid arrest.” State v. Nolan, 2019 La. App. LEXIS 1085 (La. App. 3 Cir. June 12, 2019). The smell of marijuana was justification for search of defendant’s person. A … Continue reading
D.Mont.: PC to arrest also justifies extension of a stop
There was probable cause to arrest, and that also justified the extension of the stop. The actual arrest doesn’t have to happen during the extension. United States v. Phillips, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89962 (D. Mont. April 12, 2019), adopted, … Continue reading
NY1: Protective arrest of juvenile for health and safety reasons just to get him to court violates 4A
The protective arrest of a juvenile under the Family Court Act violates the Fourth Amendment. This has been a longstanding practice, and no bad motives are attributed to anyone, but this practice can’t continue. Matter of Zavion O. (Donna O.), … Continue reading
IL: Kentucky officers investigated aggravated DUI with an accident on Ohio River bridge; remanded for findings of GFE
Defendant was involved in an accident on the Brookport Bridge between Illinois and Kentucky, and he was originally charged in Kentucky. On closer examination, the accident was determined to be in Illinois, so that case was dismissed, and it was … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Tribal officers can stop non-Indians for apparent offenses on tribal lands
While tribes generally do not have criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians, tribal officers can stop people for apparent offenses on tribal lands. Defendant’s pretextual stop argument is rejected because there was an objective basis for it. United States v. Santistevan, 2019 … Continue reading
NY4: Def’s statements during execution of SW where he wasn’t arrested weren’t custodial
“We reject defendant’s contention that County Court erred in refusing to suppress statements that he made to the police during the execution of a search warrant at his residence and thereafter at the police station. Defendant contends that he was … Continue reading