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Recent Posts
- LA3: Cell phone ping to locate def in a shooting investigation was exigent
- Marshall Project: I ‘Stood My Ground’ — but It Was the Police Raiding My House
- NYLJ: New York’s Red Flag Law Raises a Red Flag for the Fourth Amendment
- D.P.R.: Cell phone records obtained by SW not self-authenticating as evidence under 902(11)
- W.D.Wis.: No habeas relief for unlawful arrest
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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2017); ABA Journal Blawg 100 (2015-16) (discontinued 2018)
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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 -
© 2003-23,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 350,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (25,700+ on WordPress as of 12/31/22) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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)
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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) -
“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!”
---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)
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Category Archives: Probation / Parole search
DC: Search of probationer’s GPS monitor didn’t require a SW
Defendant was on GPS electronic monitoring while on probation. The search of his EM device to prove he was involved in a robbery was not unreasonable. Moreover, even if the probation department’s regulations were somehow violated, the exclusionary rule should … Continue reading
CA11: Def claims he was talking with a VA clinician, but it was a CI; no REP in conversation
Defendant was ultimately accused of theft of government funds and false statements about his VA benefits. A phone call with an informant was recorded. He claims he thought it was a clinician with whom he had a reasonable expectation of … Continue reading
IN: Patdown of man in medical distress before paramedics arrived was reasonable
Defendant’s patdown search when he was found lying in a parking lot in medical distress was objectively reasonable as an emergency search, if just for what was on him before paramedics arrived. Meth was found. Lack of a separate state … Continue reading
N.D.Tex.: Protective sweep of meth lab property was objectively reasonable
The officers’ protective sweep of a property with a working meth lab was objectively reasonable. United States v. Moreno, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 201424 (N.D. Tex. Nov. 9, 2023). Defendant’s cell phone was used during the period the rape victim … Continue reading
PA: Car and phone were abandoned after police chase
Defendant was allegedly driving his car, fled a police stop and crashed into another car. He fled and abandoned the car leaving his cell phone inside. He reported it stolen the next morning, but that proved to be false. The … Continue reading
AR: Probation search waiver can be required in suspended sentences, too
The state probation search waiver statute doesn’t refer to suspended sentences, but the court has the power to impose it there, too, even without a supervision requirement. Johnson v. State, 2023 Ark. App. 509 (Nov. 8, 2023). The dog sniff … Continue reading
CA7: Misuse of dealer tag justified search incident
The district court decided this vehicle search on inventory. On appeal, the court goes with search incident because the vehicle was being driven with improper dealer tags. Officer “Hobbs’s search of the glovebox incident to Travis’s arrest was proper. Evidence … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: SW affidavit not yet available to def merely for bail application
Defendant doesn’t get to see the affidavit for warrant yet just for his bail application because the government asserts the investigation is still ongoing. Discovery of child pornography was inadvertent, and the bail application isn’t a discovery device. The question … Continue reading
D.Minn.: Non-authorized driver of rental car four hours late to return had no standing
Defendant was stopped driving a rental car four hours after the rental expired and he was not an authorized driver. He doesn’t show standing. United States v. Maiden, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 192555 (D. Minn. Sep. 5, 2023), adopted 2023 … Continue reading
CA9: Drug dog entering vehicle after alert not unreasonable
The drug dog entering defendant’s vehicle after the alert is not unreasonable. An Idaho state CSLI warrant served outside of Idaho was not an issue for federal court. Even if the court agreed that there was a technical violation of … Continue reading
D.Idaho: Parole search condition justified extending the stop
There was reasonable suspicion for continuing the stop, then probable cause. “Even absent probable cause, the search of Mr. Watson’s car was permissible as a search pursuant to a parole condition.” That alone justified extending the stop. United States v. … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Officer’s question about firearms in car made def unreasonably nervous
During a traffic stop, the officer’s question about weapons in the car resulted in defendant’s getting unusually nervous, his breathing completely changing where his chest rose and fell, and he refused to look the officer in the eye. That was … Continue reading
W.D.Wash.: Seizure of cell phone incident to arrest not invalid because it preceded actual arrest
Seizure of defendant’s cell phone incident to arrest wasn’t unreasonable just because it was seized before the arrest. United States v. Garg, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 183140 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 11, 2023). An extraneous name appearing in a warrant affidavit … Continue reading
D.Mont.: Def’s interest in his package is a reasonable delivery time, but not an exact time
When a package in transit is detained for investigation, the person named on the package has an interest in a reasonable delivery time, but not an exact time. United States v. Hamlin, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 180215 (D. Mont. Oct. … Continue reading
DE: High crime area + messy car ≠ RS
Defendant lived in a “high crime area,” and that did not make his car subject to search just because of alleged tips. “When Officer Millner asked Defendant whether there were guns or drugs in the vehicle, Defendant replied ‘no’ and … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: Parolee had standing in place searched despite his reduced REP
The R&R determined that defendant parolee had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the place searched because of his parole status alone. The District Judge disagrees, finds enough standing to contest the search, and remands to the USMJ to decide … Continue reading
AR: Dog alerted outside before it went in open door to sniff again
A drug dog alerted on defendant’s car before the dog approached an open door and sniffed inside, too. The outside alert made the inside alert reasonable. Fleming v. State, 2023 Ark. App. 439 (Oct. 4, 2023). Officers received an anonymous … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: SW found to have been served after 6 am, but even if not, no prejudice
The court’s credibility determination is that the warrant here was executed after 6:00 a.m., not before. Even if they arrived early, they didn’t enter until 6:00 a.m. “Assuming, arguendo, the officers searched Defendant’s home before 6:00 a.m., the facts demonstrate … Continue reading
OH9: No justification needed for police to run an LPN number
No justification needed for police to run a LPN number. State v. Carter, 2023-Ohio-3452, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS 3360 (9th Dist. Sept. 27, 2023). The court takes the government at its word that the search warrant defendant seeks doesn’t exist, … Continue reading
S.D.N.Y.: Ptf being off parole at time of parole search stated claim
Plaintiff’s claim he was off parole when this parole search occurred at least survives a motion to dismiss. Aurecchione v. Falco, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 171131 (S.D.N.Y. Sep. 25, 2023). Defendant’s suppression motion against his residential search warrants was based … Continue reading