Archives
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Recent Posts
- E.D.Ark.: Ptf stated claim for SW entry without proper announcement
- E.D.Ky.: Being a lookout vehicle at a crime is RS
- E.D.Mich.: Missing 14 yo cell phone pinging at def’s house was exigency for entry to find her
- CA3: Smell of MJ but none found can still be PC
- Cal.4: SW not needed to test DNA abandoned in a rape
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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)
--Outline of 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)
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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: Staleness
KY: After DL found suspended, stop can be extended
When defendant was stopped and found to have a suspended license, the normal incidents of a traffic stop are accordingly extended, and that didn’t make waiting for a drug dog unreasonable. Olmeda v. Commonwealth, 2020 Ky. App. LEXIS 40 (Apr. … Continue reading
Cal.: Forgetting to take something under SW and getting another and coming back in days didn’t make it stale
Defendant’s alleged unlawful detention by the feds didn’t create a Fourth Amendment claim to suppress his statement to state officials while in custody. Police had at least four other ways to find defendant’s cell phone number, which they did to … Continue reading
W.D.N.Y.: SW for telephone records not required instead of a subpoena
Defendant was entitled to a search warrant rather than a search warrant to obtain his telephone records. United States v. McClain, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 55427 (W.D. N.Y. Mar. 30, 2020). The search warrant application for child pornography wasn’t at … Continue reading
D.N.M.: Eight day delay in executing SW for ongoing drug trafficking operation wasn’t stale
Defendant’s prior admission in the proceedings that an omission from the affidavit for a state search warrant was just negligent served to now deny a Franks challenge. Waiting eight days to serve the warrant did not make it stale either … Continue reading
Cal.1: The state cannot be forced to issue a SW to gather evidence for the defense
The defense sought murder victims’ social media account content, and the trial court refused to quash a subpoena which was challenged under the Stored Communications Act. The materials by statute would have to be produced in camera. As an alternative … Continue reading
S.D.Ga.: There is no per se staleness, and how is DNA stale?
There is no per se staleness. A new warrant for defendant’s DNA alleging it was previously drawn in 2005 and 2007 and matched wasn’t stale. How does DNA change? It doesn’t. United States v. Williams, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38735 … Continue reading
TX3: Cell phone in evidence room from 2009 could be searched with SW after def charged with 2018 capital murder
Defendant had a cell phone seized from him in 2009 that remained in the police evidence room. After another crime, this time a capital murder, the phone was searched with a warrant in 2018. The delay wasn’t unreasonable because defendant … Continue reading
CA2: Whether ptf’s handcuffs were too tight and injured him was question of fact not to be resolved on summary judgment
Whether plaintiff’s handcuffs were too tight was a question to be resolved by a trial and not on summary judgment here. Horace v. Gibbs, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 3823 (2d Cir. Feb. 6, 2020). There was still probable cause for … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Possession of a firearm is an ongoing offense, and passage of time alone doesn’t make it stale
Possession of a firearm is an ongoing offense, and passage of time alone doesn’t make it stale. United States v. Morelock, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 225737 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 9, 2019), adopted, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12596 (N.D. Ga. Jan. … Continue reading
PA: SW for cell phone extraction executed after expiration was treated as a warrantless search
A search warrant executed on cell phones for extraction of data expired four days before the search. Therefore, the search was warrantless, and the trial court should have suppressed. Commonwealth v. Bowens, 2020 Pa. Super. LEXIS 22 (Jan. 17, 2020). … Continue reading
N.D.Ohio: Ongoing drug operation overcame staleness challenge
The 71-page affidavit for search warrant here did not go stale before issuance. There was plenty of information about an ongoing drug operation. Between then and when the officers decided to get a search warrant, the original information hadn’t gone … Continue reading
D.Minn.: R&R rejected; granting Franks motion without a hearing was error because alleged false statement had two interpretations
The USMJ’s failure to conduct a Franks hearing in recommending a motion to suppress be granted was erroneous. The challenged statement was subject to two interpretations. “Faced with this situation, a Franks hearing would have allowed the Magistrate Judge to … Continue reading
D.Md.: Even with MJ decrim, smell of MJ from a vehicle is still PC by statute and state case law
According to the state courts and statute, the smell of marijuana from a van was still probable cause in Maryland despite decriminalization. The search of the vehicle and a backpack within was thus lawful. United States v. Palacio, 2019 U.S. … Continue reading
E.D.N.C.: On a video that’s integral to the PC, the reliability of the time stamp isn’t to be inquired into or it becomes a “hypertechnical” review
Defendant was on a surveillance video 33 days before a search warrant was sought for the weapon since he was a felon. The warrant was not stale because people almost always keep firearms for a long time. Defendant’s challenge to … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Broad SW for cell phone photos was reasonable because of how they’re stored
A broad search warrant for photographs on a cell phone was reasonable because that’s the only way the photos can be searched. In addition, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Hawkins, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 214030 (E.D. Mich. … Continue reading
D.V.I.: GFE applies to searches before the court held U.S. to V.I. packages weren’t border searches
Applying its prior Baxter case, the District of the Virgin Islands holds that the border search exception doesn’t apply to mail and packages shipped from the Continental U.S. The searches here, however, predated Baxter, so the good faith exception applies. … Continue reading
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
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
OR: Ten-year-old information in a SW for evidence of child sexual abuse wasn’t stale
Defendant was convicted of 11 counts of child sexual abuse from acts that occurred at a gymnastic business that had sleepovers of young female gymnasts. In making its case, the state used ten-year-old information in a search warrant application for … Continue reading