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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: Probation / Parole search
E.D.Pa.: Length of def’s participation in DTO undermines his staleness argument
There was probable cause defendant was a major player in a DTO, and that his participation went on for months. This, he concedes, undermines his staleness argument. United States v. Williams, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 211403 (E.D. Pa. Dec. 6, … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Parole search waiver applies to CSLI information
CSLI can be obtained from a parolee’s cell phone without a search warrant. “However, the Court’s own research has found that every circuit court faced with the same question has sided with the Government and found that a warrant is … Continue reading
ID: Unlawful warrantless search isn’t salvageable by inevitable discovery by later learning of probation search waiver
A unreasonable warrantless search is not cured by inevitable discovery because the officers later find out defendant was on probation and had a search waiver on file. State v. Maxim, 2019 Ida. LEXIS 216 (Dec. 4, 2019):
E.D.Pa.: Def could be transported to precinct for lineup on RS alone
Defendant was handcuffed as a part of his stop for officer safety and to secure the scene. They could also put him in a police car handcuffed. Finally, transporting him to the precinct for a lineup wasn’t an unreasonable seizure … Continue reading
N.D.Iowa: “[T]he mere fact that the agents requested that Defendant sign a consent form does not suggest that he was in custody” for Miranda
“[T]he mere fact that the agents requested that Defendant sign a consent form does not suggest that he was in custody” for Miranda purposes. United States v. Cox, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 206681 (N.D. Ind. Oct. 10, 2019), adopted, 2019 … Continue reading
FL follows Mitchell on blood draws from the unconscious
The Florida Supreme Court granted a certified question of public importance on whether a search warrant was required to draw blood from an unconscious motorist in the hospital. In the meantime, SCOTUS decided Mitchell v. Wisconsin. This court applies Mitchell … Continue reading
OH11: Failure to provide an inventory after a search is ministerial and not a fundamental right
“Even presuming no inventory was completed or provided to Thompson, however, this did not result in prejudice or provide any grounds for relief. It has been held that ‘the preparation and return of an inventory is ministerial’ and ‘does not … Continue reading
CA9: Three-month-old information about where probationer lived wasn’t stale for probation search
Probation officers could rely on a three-month-old list that showed defendant’s brother lived there and he was on probation. The list was not stale because there was no suggestion the brother’s tenancy was transitory. Defendant’s claim the probation search as … Continue reading
WI: Uncorroborated informant hearsay was strong enough to credit for probation search on RS
Wisconsin permits warrantless probation and parole searches on reasonable suspicion by any law enforcement officer. Officers had it here based on uncorroborated informant hearsay. The record also supports the trial court’s conclusion that the officer knew of the search condition … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Michigan v. Long search of car on RS for a weapon called “protective sweep”
The officers had reasonable suspicion to believe there was a weapon in the car justifying a “protective sweep” of the car under Michigan v. Long. United States v. Alexander, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 197653 (D. Kan. Nov. 14, 2019). Defendant … Continue reading
D.Utah: Parole search doesn’t extend to car parolee was a passenger in
The parole search of car defendant was a passenger in was invalid because it wasn’t his. United States v. Tafuna, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 194829 (D.Utah Oct. 1, 2019):
MT: Welfare check of driver gave no indication of DUI, so no RS
The officer approached defendant’s vehicle pursuant to a 911 call to request a welfare check on the driver, but he did not have particularized suspicion to conduct a DUI investigation at the time he was assured defendant was not in … Continue reading
CA3: State law required RS for a parole search
Defendant was a parolee, and the parties argued over whether no suspicion was required for a parole search or reasonable suspicion. The government argued no suspicion required. The parole conditions didn’t specify, but state statute did, and reasonable suspicion is … Continue reading
CA4: Probation search not unreasonable because a law enforcement task force was involved
Defendant argues the state probation search agreement (“his probation officer”) rather than the statute’s provision that he was generally subject to search was not controlling. The court disagrees: The statute controls and it’s clear. The fact a law enforcement task … Continue reading
LA4: Nervousness and furtiveness of person clutching bag on Bourbon St during Halloween crowd justified stop to check for weapons
It was Halloween on Bourbon Street, which is the largest crowd in New Orleans other than Mardi Gras. Defendant was stopped for his suspicious behavior on seeing EMS personnel, and he quickened his pace and tucked his bag under his … Continue reading
DE: SW for drugs allows search anywhere drugs may be hidden
A search warrant for drugs authorizes a search any place where drugs may be hidden. The fact other things are found that are evidence allows their seizure, too. Jackson v. State, 2019 Del. LEXIS 456 (Oct. 8, 2019). U.S. Probation … Continue reading
D.Neb.: POs came to def’s house, smelled meth, and had RS for a search
Defendant was on a parole and drew her PO’s suspicion when she said she was putting money on a card at CVS since she was unemployed. They made a home visit and smelled methamphetamine cooking. They had reasonable suspicion for … Continue reading
D.Idaho: US Probation may enlist LEOs in conducting supervision search of cell phone
U.S. Probation was supervising defendant and they suspected child pornography on his cell phone. They enlisted HSI to search the phone. This did not violate federal law; USPO can get assistance to conduct a search. United States v. Johnson, 2019 … Continue reading
IN: In a probation search of one under home confinement, only common areas or def’s specific area can be searched; MJ and gun found in common area
Defendant was placed on home confinement as a result of his conviction, and there was a search waiver provision. He was living in someone else’s house. Assuming only the common areas and those under defendant’s specific control are subject to … Continue reading