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- FL: Violation of knock-and-announce statute doesn’t require exclusion
- TX3: DUI blood draw while in restraint chair not 4A unreasonable
- 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)
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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
KY: SW not invalid because the color of door was wrong; finding gun during search for drugs not unreasonable
“Appellant specifically argues that the warrant was defective because it incorrectly described the front door to his residence as black when, in fact, the door was brown. Appellant’s first name was also misspelled in the warrant. However, neither of these … Continue reading
W.D.Ark.: Sexually explicit Facebook chats from home IP address is PC for the home
Defense counsel couldn’t be ineffective for not challenging the search of defendant’s apartment because there was probable cause. Sexually explicit Facebook chats with a minor from one’s home IP address is probable cause for the home. United States v. Ram, … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Unmarked pill bottle with apparent crack in it was in plain view during protective sweep after arrest in house
Officers came in defendant’s house with an arrest warrant for cocaine delivery. During a protective sweep, an unmarked pill bottle was seen and picked up. It was immediately apparent to the officers that the contents was likely crack cocaine and … Continue reading
TX1: Pill bottle in pocket wasn’t presumed to contain contraband; plain feel not valid
Defendant admits that he was validly stopped and patted down. The only question is whether the pill bottle removed from his pocket was subject to plain feel, and the court concludes it was not. It was obviously not a weapon, … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: When police come to def’s house with arrest warrant, cotenant’s denial he’s home isn’t binding on officers
Officers had good information where defendant lived, and they came with an arrest warrant. His cotenant denied he was there, which the officers did not have to take at face value. One FBI agent testified that cotenants frequently lie about … Continue reading
CA6: Video of controlled buy corroborated CI; fact drugs wasn’t mentioned doesn’t mean no PC
The CI’s story is confirmed by the audio and video of the following controlled buy. Defendant’s claim that the money could have been paid for something else doesn’t undermine the probable cause. “Here, despite no explicit discussion of drugs, put … Continue reading
D.Utah: Officers had no objective information supporting exigency for entry
The officers had no objective information that even suggested that a protective sweep was required here, and the warrantless entry into the home was unreasonable. Moreover, the claimed consent wasn’t voluntary. United States v. Lawley, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 125920 … Continue reading
S.D.Ind.: CSLI search two years before Carpenter was valid under GFE
The Seventh Circuit held in dicta in 2014 that CSLI didn’t need a warrant. United States v. Thousand, 558 Fed. Appx. 666, 670 (7th Cir. 2014). The search here was two years before Carpenter. Davis good faith applies, and the … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Realtime cell phone tracking SW issued with PC
The USPS developed probable cause that defendant was shipping drugs by mail with his own mini mailing service, creating his own mailing labels and having acquired plenty of USPS envelopes and postage to do it. When another suspicious package came … Continue reading
N.D.Cal.: Smell of MJ from passenger compartment is PC only as to that area
The smell of marijuana came from the passenger compartment, and the court finds that the probable cause that it creates is limited to the passenger compartment under the automobile exception. United States v. Chavez, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 107695 (N.D. … Continue reading
MD: Odor of MJ from the person is PC to search the person
The odor of marijuana provides probable cause to believe that marijuana is present, and therefore, the smell of marijuana emanating from a vehicle provides probable cause to believe that contraband or evidence of a crime will be in the vehicle … Continue reading
DE: Facebook messages def was reselling MMJ was part of the PC
A medical marijuana provider told police that it appeared that defendant was reselling that which she acquired legally. They messaged her through Facebook as a potential buyer, and she essentially admitted it. The search warrant was issued on probable cause … Continue reading
CT: Seeing sawed off shotgun through van window justified opening it up to seize it
The officers here saw a sawed off shotgun through the windows of defendant’s van, and it was not unreasonable to use the key fob to open the door to seize it. State v. Ortiz, 2018 Conn. App. LEXIS 235 (June … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Gant didn’t bar a plain view of the interior of def’s car when he was handcuffed on ground
Defendant was arrested for drug dealing, and he was handcuffed on the ground near the car. The search of the car here was based on seeing a gun in the car in plain view, so Gant doesn’t bar the search. … Continue reading
NJ: Officer’s purpose in momentarily putting head in window of car was to hear def over road noise was not search; plain smell sustained
The officer momentarily put his head in the window of defendant’s car to better hear him, and then he smelled marijuana. The purpose of the intrusion was benign and not to conduct a search, and it was not unreasonable. State … Continue reading
VA: Gun in plain view left in car was seizable under Long
Defendant fled from a car, and a gun was in plain view in the car. The officer acted reasonably in searching the car to secure the firearm under Michigan v. Long [aside from abandonment of the car] because defendant could … Continue reading
AZ: Trial court didn’t make finding on Strickland IAC prejudice for failure to argue curtilage; remanded
Defense counsel deliberatedly didn’t make a claim officers violated curtilage in their initial entry to defendant’s property. The first search warrant application was rejected by one judge. The affidavit was redrafted with additional facts and presented to a second judge … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: PV of short-barreled rifle and silencer was valid; incriminating nature immediately apparent
The incriminating nature of a short-barreled rifle and a homemade suppressor was immediately apparent for plain view purposes. United States v. Tidrow, 2018 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 81807 (N.D. Tex. May 15, 2018). “Prior to the stop of the vehicle, law … Continue reading
WY: Patdown led to plain feel of drugs in watch pocket
During a patdown, the officer felt what was likely drugs in the “coin pocket” (called a watch pocket) and it was immediately apparent to him. Therefore, plain feel applied. Maestas v. State, 2018 WY 47, 2018 Wyo. LEXIS 49 (May … Continue reading
W.D.Okla.: SW for vehicles and “appurtenances” didn’t include a car and camper 100′ from house off the curtilage
The search warrant for defendant’s dwelling included vehicles and “appurtenances” on the land. Defendant’s vehicle and camper were about 100′ from the dwelling, and the court finds they were not on the curtilage of the dwelling. Moreover, the good faith … Continue reading