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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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To search Search and Seizure on Lexis.com $ -
Research Links:
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Briefs online (but no amicus briefs)
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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)
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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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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: Burden of proof
MO: Where there are two justifications for a stop, challenging only one does not provide relief
There were two justifications for defendant’s stop. Defendant only challenged one, so it’s moot. State v. Swartz, 2017 Mo. App. LEXIS 74 (Feb. 14, 2017). The sound of defendant’s car apparently hitting another car constituted a hit and run, and … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: General motion to suppress denied for not pleading any facts or law
“In light of the fact that Defendant fails to specify which statements he is seeking to suppress and the insufficiency of Defendant’s explanation for why the arrest warrant lacks probable cause, I am unable to properly consider these motions. Fourth … Continue reading
TN: General statement of “certified question of law” requires dismissal of appeal
Defendant’s general statement of the search and seizure in his state mandated “certified question of law” was insufficient for lack of what it was and what was sought to be suppressed, and the appeal is dismissed. State v. Forest, 2017 … Continue reading
CA6: Without record references to where the facts are, the court finds the 4A argument waived; counsel blames word limits on briefs
Defendant had waived his challenge to the denial of motions to suppress where he failed to point to any findings in the record demonstrating how the district court erred or why a wiretap application lacked probable cause. Even if defendant … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Police reports attached to post-hearing brief not in evidence would not be considered
“[T]he Court does not consider the exhibits that Smith attached to his post-evidentiary hearing brief. These documents presumably were in Defendant’s possession at the time of the evidentiary hearings and could have been used to cross-examine the witnesses. Smith does … Continue reading
NC: Def waived issue of RS for appeal by arguing PC instead; on merits, there was RS anyway
Defendant abandons his argument that there was no reasonable suspicion for his stop by providing no argument on reasonable suspicion and instead focusing on probable cause. Going to the record, however, the court finds reasonable suspicion for the stop because … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Sex trafficking a minor in a hotel room was exigency for warrantless entry on PC
Defendant rented his hotel room under a known alias of his for which he had an ID card. That gave him standing. The exigency of sex trafficking a minor justified the officer’s warrantless entry, and it’s apparent there was probable … Continue reading
CA9: 911 call about suicide by overdose justified entry
Police received a 911 call about a suicide by overdose, and the entry into the premises was reasonable. Ames v. King County, 2017 U.S. App. LEXIS 660 (9th Cir. Jan. 13, 2017). Claimant failed to make a Fourth Amendment claim … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Franks challenge requires proffer by affidavit, not merely representations by counsel
Franks challenge requires an offer of proof by affidavit. Representations of counsel aren’t enough. United States v. Houston, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 558 (M.D.Fla. Jan. 4, 2017). After dealing with all the allegations:
D.Md.: Govt first raising standing in a supplement brief after hearing was waiver
The government’s first raising standing in a supplemental brief after the hearing is too late. United States v. Larson, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175547 *3 n.2 (D.Md. Dec. 19, 2016):
D.N.M.: When neither party requests a hearing and only disputed fact isn’t material, one won’t be held
Neither party requested a hearing on the motion to suppress and one isn’t required. Here, there is one disputed fact and it isn’t material to the outcome. United States v. Benavidez, 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 175373 (D.N.M. Dec. 19, 2016).
E.D.Pa.: Court just doesn’t buy officer’s story about seeing gun; suppressed
The court just doesn’t believe the officer’s testimony that he saw a gun to justify an engine compartment search under the automobile exception. The government’s fallback position that it was valid as a Terry frisk is also rejected for lack … Continue reading
IA: Where state stipulated needing PC for its actions, it couldn’t argue RS was sufficient on appeal; it’s bound by its argument below
Where the state argues reasonable suspicion justified the officer’s actions, they had to say so in the trial court. Instead, they proceeded on the theory they needed probable cause, and that’s what they’re bound by on appeal. State v. Steffens, … Continue reading
AK: Reconsideration of finding of no PC granted; def never really put lack of PC in issue
At issue was a seizure and then warranted search of defendant’s cell phone looking for an incriminating text message that was already seen by the police on the recipient’s cell phone. At the hearing, the Superior Court granted a motion … Continue reading
CO: Officers had clear indication def had drugs in mouth for body search on exigency
There was a clear indication that defendant had hidden drugs in his mouth, and that was exigency for a search of his mouth. When the state as appellee argues there is probable cause for defendant’s arrest and the opening brief … Continue reading
NY3: Cursory suppression motion properly denied on its face
Defendant’s suppression motion was properly denied. “Defendant made only a brief, conclusory claim that there was no probable cause for his arrest, lacking factual support ….” On his consent claim of lack of consent, the lack of factual support didn’t … Continue reading
OH10: Failing to raise suppression issue at trial court was waived for appeal
Defendant waived his argument related to a prolonged detention by failing to raise it in his motions to suppress or at the suppression hearings, and then only by raising the argument for the first time on appeal. State v. Geiger, … Continue reading
OH8: State admin subpoena might be burdensome and time consuming but it’s not unreasonable
“While GMS might find some of the Commission’s investigative techniques time consuming and burdensome, GMS is unable to show that the Commission’s investigations violated the Fourth Amendment or otherwise fell outside the scope of what is permitted under statute.” GMS … Continue reading