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Recent Posts
- S.D.W.Va.: Issuance of a criminal citation is not a seizure
- E.D.Mo.: Evidence of the search comes in because it “completes the story”
- E.D.Wis.: Ptf’s claim judge’s signature on SW was forged fails for not even alleging there was a search
- W.D.Mich.: Search and seizure Brady, even if there was one, wouldn’t change the outcome
- W.D.Mich.: State law violation in search irrelevant in federal prosecution
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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 -
© 2003-24,
online since Feb. 24, 2003 Approx. 425,000 visits (non-robot) since 2012 Approx. 45,000 posts since 2003 (27,400+ on WordPress as of 7/23/24) -
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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: Seizure
S.D.W.Va.: Issuance of a criminal citation is not a seizure
Issuance of a hunting violation citation is not a seizure. Even if it was, there was probable cause. Defendant wildlife officer’s seizure of antlers from a taxidermist can proceed. Craft v. Gills, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 219453 (S.D. W.Va. Dec. … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: Requiring a building demolition permit doesn’t state a 4A claim
Requiring plaintiff to get a demolition permit of a building fails to state a claim because “Plaintiffs’ legal theory that the … actions result in a violation of their fourth amendments rights is unclear and conclusory.” Macy v. San Bernardino … Continue reading
MI: Leatherman tool on belt could be considered weapon for frisk
Defendant was well-known to be a meth abuser, and when he was stopped for a traffic offense and had a Leatherman tool on him, that could be considered usable as a weapon. People v. Babcock, 2024 Mich. App. LEXIS 9506 … Continue reading
D.Me.: State mandated GPS tracking of lobster boats reasonable under closely regulated business exception
Under the closely regulated business exception, the State of Maine can require lobsterman to have GPS tracking on their boats. (It’s an important question and the plaintiffs are urged to appeal to the First Circuit.) Thompson v. Keliher, 2024 U.S. … Continue reading
OH1: Smoking MJ in public and jaywalking was RS for a patdown
“Mr. King challenges the foundation for the Terry stop, emphasizing that smoking marijuana in public and jaywalking are not arrestable offenses. True enough, but officers can issue tickets for both offenses. Cincinnati Mun.Code § 506-46 and 512-1; R.C. 3780.99(B). And … Continue reading
CA6: Realtime ping information didn’t require a warrant
“Perry first challenges the validity of the search warrants for call and location data from his two cellphones. Law-enforcement officers generally need a warrant to conduct a ‘search’ that intrudes upon a person’s reasonable expectation of privacy. … But a … Continue reading
MO: Def fled state and abandoned murder weapon at his grandmother’s house
When defendant fled the state to avoid arrest, he left a bag with the murder weapon at his grandmother’s house. That was abandonment. The ping of his cell phone to locate him to arrest him was with exigent circumstances. State … Continue reading
W.D.Mo.: Use of stop sticks was a reasonable seizure and with RS
“The Court finds that when Officers Zinn and Jasso placed the stop sticks and attempted to remove the subject from his vehicle, they had a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the individual behind the wheel of the Dodge Charger was involved … Continue reading
Natl. L. Rev.: The Reasonableness of Retaining Personal Property Post-Seizure and the Ascendancy of Text, History, and Tradition in Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence
Natl. L. Rev.: The Reasonableness of Retaining Personal Property Post-Seizure and the Ascendancy of Text, History, and Tradition in Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence by Ty E. Howard [the case is posted here]:
E.D.Cal.: Failure to provide medical care to an arrestee can be a 4A issue
Arrestee plaintiff pled due process, but it’s a Fourth Amendment claim for not “provid[ing] objectively reasonable post-arrest [medical] care to Plaintiff, a non-pretrial detainee, by ‘imped[ing] the medical staff from completing their task and pressuring them to discharge [Plaintiff],’ which … Continue reading
NC: Warrant not needed to access data from GPS for post-conviction supervision
The data generated from the GPS attached to defendant as part of his post-conviction supervision can be accessed by law enforcement without a warrant. State v. Thomas, 2024 N.C. App. LEXIS 687 (Sep. 3, 2024). The Tenth Circuit has made … Continue reading
FL3: Officers could enter def’s home to make his arrest with an arrest warrant
Defendant was convicted of resisting arrest without violence. The jury was properly instructed that the officers could enter his home on an arrest warrant. Martinez v. State, 2024 Fla. App. LEXIS 6538 (Fla. 3d DCA Aug. 21, 2024). Plaintiff’s malicious … Continue reading
CADC: Unreasonable retention of property after a case is resolved can violate 4A
Looking to the common law, unreasonable retention of property after a case is resolved can violate the Fourth Amendment. Asinor v. District of Columbia, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 20098 (D.C. Cir. Aug. 9, 2024):
MN: PC required to get order to produce DNA for comparison to evidence
A court order for defendant’s saliva for a touch DNA comparison required a showing of probable cause. State v. Steeprock, 2024 Minn. App. LEXIS 345 (July 29, 2024). “[T]he record evidence demonstrates that three police officers ran from the police … Continue reading
MI: Partially blocking a car can be a seizure, here without RS
“A seizure may occur when a police vehicle partially blocks a defendant’s egress if the totality of the circumstances indicate that a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave; while the position of the police vehicle is an … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Passenger putting something under the seat shows no REP
A passenger putting something under the seat when in a car manifests no reasonable expectation of privacy and thus no standing. United States v. Dunnell, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124927 (D. Mass. July 16, 2024). (Apparently one needs to keep … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Summary judgment for defs denied in Torres v. Madrid on remand
On remand in Torres v. Madrid, 141 S. Ct. 989, 209 L.Ed.2d 190 (Mar. 25, 2021), the defendant’s summary judgment motion is denied. Torres v. Madrid, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117079 (D.N.M. July 2, 2024).* An out-of-state temporary plate where … Continue reading