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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 $ -
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Federal Law Enforcement Training Center Resources
FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (2008) (pdf)
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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)
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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, 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: Forfeiture
AL SWs must be executed only by the officers to whom they are directed
Search warrants in Alabama have to be executed only by the officers to whom they are directed. Here, the warrant was to the Sheriff of Mobile County, but an officer of the Mobile PD executed it. This was invalid execution. … Continue reading
WaPo: Why Oklahoma cops are returning $53,000 to a Christian band, an orphanage and a church
WaPo: Why Oklahoma cops are returning $53,000 to a Christian band, an orphanage and a church by Christopher Ingraham: A group of Karen Christians from Burma and Thailand have partnered with the Institute for Justice (IJ) to challenge the civil … Continue reading
WaPo: Morning links: Court says dog sniff alone doesn’t justify forfeiture
WaPo: Morning links: Court says dog sniff alone doesn’t justify forfeiture by Radley Balko
Forbes: Opinion: Nebraska Just Abolished Civil Forfeiture, Now Requires A Criminal Conviction To Take Property
Forbes: Opinion: Nebraska Just Abolished Civil Forfeiture, Now Requires A Criminal Conviction To Take Property by Nick Sivilla: Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts signed a bill on Tuesday that eliminates civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize and keep property … Continue reading
WaPo: What life is like after police ransack your house and take ‘every belonging’ — then the charges are dropped
WaPo: What life is like after police ransack your house and take ‘every belonging’ — then the charges are dropped By Christopher Ingraham: A self-described Michigan “soccer mom” who had “every belonging” taken from her family in a 2014 drug … Continue reading
NY4: Driver has no standing in search of passenger’s person
Defendant has no standing to contest the search of the person of the passenger in his car. People v. Gibson, 2016 NY Slip Op 02193, 2016 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 2171 (4th Dept. March 25, 2016). There was justification for … Continue reading
Daily Signal: Inside the Push to Make It Harder for Government to ‘Steal’ Property, Cash in America’s Heartland
Daily Signal: Inside the Push to Make It Harder for Government to ‘Steal’ Property, Cash in America’s Heartland by Melissa Quinn: But in a year when Loveless, R-Oklahoma City, is up for re-election to the state legislature—a time when most … Continue reading
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Lawsuit takes aim at asset forfeiture in Indiana
WaPo: ‘The Watch’ Blog: Lawsuit takes aim at asset forfeiture in Indiana by Radley Balko: The Institute for Justice, a libertarian advocacy law firm, is suing the state of Indiana over its civil asset forfeiture practices. Under state law, the … Continue reading
Cincinnati Enquirer: Ky. seizure laws under scrutiny by local lawmaker
Cincinnati Enquirer: Ky. seizure laws under scrutiny by local lawmaker by James Pilcher: Kentucky law requires police and sheriff departments to report how much property and cash they seize and keep as the result of criminal investigations. But an Enquirer … Continue reading
AL: Objection to search of person doesn’t preserve claim of cell phone search
Defendant’s appellate argument that his cell phone was searched without a warrant wasn’t preserved at trial by the argument he objected to the search of his person. In any event, it was said during trial there was a warrant. Alonso … Continue reading
Right on Crime: Civil Asset Forfeiture Summit Dallas, Feb. 9
Right on Crime: Civil Asset Forfeiture Summit Irving, TX Tuesday, February 9, 2016 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM (CST)
Cincinnati.com: What’s next for feds’ seizure program after local payments stopped?
Cincinnati.com: What’s next for feds’ seizure program after local payments stopped? by James Pilcher: Local law enforcement agencies will no longer reap any rewards from a controversial federal program that allows police to take money and property from individuals – … Continue reading
WaPo: The Justice Department just shut down a huge asset forfeiture program
WaPo: The Justice Department just shut down a huge asset forfeiture program by Christopher Ingraham: The Department of Justice announced this week that it’s suspending a controversial program that allows local police departments to keep a large portion of assets … Continue reading
IA: Where def acquitted, denial of motion to suppress not preclusive in subsequent forfeiture action
Claimant’s acquittal of drug charges after denial of his motion to suppress gives the motion to suppress no preclusive effect. The stop here was unreasonable because it was dragged out, and the forfeiture is reversed. In the Matter of Property … Continue reading
USA Today: After illegal wiretap, suspects go free and want a refund
USA Today: After illegal wiretap, suspects go free and want a refund by Brad Heath and Brett Kelman: Prosecutors determined that wiretaps the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration used as the core of its investigation were illegal and couldn’t be used … Continue reading
Houston Chronicle: Miller: Texas fails to protect property owners from civil forfeiture
Houston Chronicle: Texas fails to protect property owners from civil forfeiture by Matt Miller: Texas law enforcement agencies have taken in over half a billion dollars in forfeiture revenue an average of $41.5 million per year. Civil forfeiture is a … Continue reading
Reason: Blog: New Mexico Cities Attempt to Ignore Tough Restrictions on Property Seizure. Lawsuits Follow.
Reason: Blog: New Mexico Cities Attempt to Ignore Tough Restrictions on Property Seizure. Lawsuits Follow. by Scott Shackford:
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: The booming business of asset forfeiture
WaPo: Radley Balko’s ‘The Watch’ Blog: The booming business of asset forfeiture: Given the recent efforts at the state and federal level to rein in asset forfeiture abuses, you might think that the practice is in decline. You’d be mistaken.
N.D.Ga.: Seizure of a computer under a warrant authorizes its search, even after the 14 day window
Seizure of a computer under a warrant authorizes its search, even after the 14 day window in the warrant. Phone conversations between defendant and his lawyer over the jail phone system were not subject to attorney-client privilege because there was … Continue reading
CA2: Seizure of property and cash for forfeiture requires a judicial finding of probable cause
Seizure of property and cash for forfeiture, even after exigency, requires a judicial finding of probable cause or a forfeiture count in an indictment. United States v. Cosme, 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 13996 (August 10, 2015):