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- FL: Violation of knock-and-announce statute doesn’t require exclusion
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- TX1: Def has a duty to make his record on PC and the SW; missing affidavit was on him
- N.D.Ala.: SW not invalid because issuing judge previously represented the target
- The Guardian: ‘We should be worried’: report sheds light on ICE’s booming arsenal of hi-tech surveillance tools
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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)
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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: Plain view, feel, smell
D.D.C.: Knotted plastic bag of drugs in waistband was in plain view
Defendant was stopped for a traffic offense, and his tinted windows were way too dark and the officer couldn’t see inside. Defendant was told to lower the window, and he did. The officer could immediately see a knotted plastic bag … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Reaching in def’s car to turn it off wasn’t a search, and plain view of a gun proper
Defendant’s stop was reasonable because the LPN didn’t match the vehicle. His reaching in the car to turn off the ignition was not a search. “As Officer Jenkins was backing out of the vehicle, she looked down and saw what … Continue reading
DE: Baggie of drugs hanging from pocket during valid traffic stop was in plain view
Defendant’s furtive movement in the truck when he was stopped was justification for ordering him out of it. The baggie of drugs hanging out of his pocket was then in plain view. Backus v. State, 2019 Del. LEXIS 32 (Jan. … Continue reading
SC: Police officer’s accidently seeing child porn on def’s computer screen was plain view that led to SW
Defendant’s computer was being worked on by a computer technician in defendant’s home. A police officer came by on personal business to leave something. When in the house, he saw something scroll by on the screen, and he asked the … Continue reading
W.D.Tenn.: Seizure of clothing from hospital room floor was justified by plain view
Seizure of defendant’s clothing from a hospital room floor was justified by the plain view doctrine. United States v. Clancy, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8471 (W.D. Tenn. Jan. 17, 2019), adopting, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219585 (W.D. Tenn. Dec. 19, … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Clothing as evidence in plain view can be seized whether from a suspect or victim
Defendant’s clothing was properly seized under the plain view doctrine whether he was a suspect or a victim. Defendant also didn’t have standing in the car involved because it wasn’t his. United States v. Hood, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5357 … Continue reading
NE: Smell of MJ from a car is PC to search it
Defendant’s driving alleged nearly caused an accident with a state trooper and another car, so he stopped it. The smell of marijuana was coming from the car, and that was probable cause for a search of the car. State v. … Continue reading
IA: Def answered door in underwear with apparent semen stains; police there with SW for sex abuse with minors
Defendant was under investigation for sexual abuse of minors. “[T]he police went to Heggebo’s house to execute a search warrant. Heggebo answered the door wearing only shorts. The police seized Heggebo’s shorts because the shorts had apparent semen stains on … Continue reading
IL: Fatal accident alone not PC for blood draw; no exigency argued either
Just because defendant was involved in a fatal accident where his passenger died, there wasn’t probable cause for a blood draw. The state did not argue exigent circumstances below or on appeal, but that would also require probable cause. People … Continue reading
IA: Stolen tractor tires were visible from the curtilage and entry permitted
Defendant was suspected of possession of stolen property. Police came to his rural property to talk to him where he was self-employed working on tractors in back. He had a circular driveway. From the driveway they could see the outbuildings … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Dropping gun just before arrest treated as abandonment [?]
A firearm that fell from defendant’s pants as he was being arrested and getting out of a car was treated as abandoned. United States v. Franklin, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 197783 (W.D. Mo. Nov. 20, 2018). I have to disagree … Continue reading
OH2: Plain view of drugs through screen door justified entry
Officers came to an apartment with an arrest warrant. When the door inside was opened, they could see drugs in plain view within five feet of the door. It was reasonable for them to open the screen door to preserve … Continue reading
KS: Pushing a button on a cell phone to light up screen was not a plain view; suppression affirmed
Defendant was involved in a fatal car accident, and the officer at the scene allegedly saw the screen of the cell phone in plain view showing texting at the time of the accident. While two U.S. District Court cases support … Continue reading
FL1: Collective knowledge applies to affidavit for SW in CP case
The affiant on a child pornography search warrant doesn’t have to personally view the material. He can relate what another officer said who did see it under the collective knowledge doctrine. Mardosas v. State, 2018 Fla. App. LEXIS 14012 (Fla. … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Protective sweep led to plain view of firearm and cell phone
During a protective sweep, a firearm and cell phones were seen, and a search warrant was later issued for the firearm. His cell phone was in plain view and seized when defendant was arrested. The officers came back for the … Continue reading
E.D.Tenn.: There was no overseizure of marijuana on the search; it was in plain view
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not objecting to the alleged overseizure of marijuana. Once police were on the property with a validly issued warrant, all the marijuana was seizable because it was in plain view. Green v. United States, 2018 … Continue reading
D.Idaho: RS for continuing a traffic stop can be based on a violation of probation conditions
Reasonable suspicion for continuing a traffic stop can be based on a violation of probation conditions, as was this one. United States v. Durr, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 157472 (D. Idaho Sep 15, 2018). Petition for writ of error coram … Continue reading
FL4: Florida law requires the officer claiming plain feel has to show his or her knowledge supports the apparent likelihood of drugs
“Here, the state failed to elicit evidence regarding the officer’s experience with drug containers and his prior use of tactile perception to identify contraband. The officer did not feel any plantlike material in T.T.’s pants. Moreover, he did not testify … Continue reading
MA: Officer’s observation of text message just received on a screen of seized cell phone was admissible
Defendant was arrested after the police observed a buy and defendant fled and was arrested. Officers took his phone off of him but hadn’t searched it. While the officer was at the police station, the phone received a text message, … Continue reading
GA: Trial court failed to consider state’s alternative ground to sustain search; remanded
Defendant filed a motion to suppress and that put the state on notice that it had to prove the ordinance under which it prosecutes. The state failed to prove it up, but its backup argument was that the officer relied … Continue reading