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ABA Journal Web 100, Best Law Blogs (2015-17) (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 -
© 2003-25,
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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--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) -
“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)
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Category Archives: Cell site location information
CA4: SW affidavit not required to name an offender
A search warrant is about whether evidence would be found in the place to be searched, not whether there’s an offender. United States v. Johnson, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 10138 (4th Cir. Apr. 28, 2025). 2255 petitioner’s Franks ineffective assistance … Continue reading
D.Nev.: Cell tower dump to solve a murder was a general warrant, but not suppressed
A California state judge issued a cell tower dump warrant to attempt to find who could have been involved in two dead bodies in the desert. The judge testified at the suppression hearing in the District of Nevada. The cell … Continue reading
IN: State’s reliance on GFE not waived where it didn’t argue it but trial court decided it
“The totality of the evidence before the issuing judge was sufficient to establish probable cause. Detective Salley’s affidavit in support of the search warrant had outlined observations that law enforcement had made during surveillance of the Astro Drive Residence, which, … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Criminal complaint can’t be challenged under Franks after indictment
A criminal complaint can’t be challenged under Franks after indictment. United States v. Sole, 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 908 (N.D. Ind. Jan. 3, 2025).* Defendant’s stop for clearly overtinted windows was reasonable. Disagreement by witnesses over minor details didn’t matter. … Continue reading
TX1: GPS installed by dealer in a used car was owned by dealer and was not comparable to CSLI
Defendant bought a used car that the dealer had GPS installed in if necessary to recover it. The police accessed that information without a warrant to connect him to a murder. The contract for the vehicle told defendant about the … Continue reading
CA6: Defense counsel not ineffective for not forecasting Carpenter three years early
Defense counsel wasn’t ineffective for not forecasting Carpenter years before it was decided. Cooper v. United States, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 29853 (6th Cir. Nov. 22, 2024).* Defendant was on parole for a child exploitation offense, and he was polygraphed … Continue reading
CA2: No less intrusive measures requirement before seeking CSLI
“The CSLI and cell-site simulator warrants provided evidence of the general and specific location of one of Brown’s cell phones and, therefore, of Brown’s likely movements between his indictment and arrest. Brown contends that investigators procured these warrants by falsely … Continue reading
OR: The burden on whether the affidavit was with the warrant at the search is on defendant
When the affidavit satisfies particularity but the defendant alleges the warrant doesn’t, he has the burden of proving that both were not attached to each other or at the scene of the search for guidance. State v. Goode, 335 Or. … Continue reading
CA7: Franks does not apply to emergency cell phone pings
During the George Floyd murder unrest, defendant told an acquaintance he was traveling to Wisconsin with a machine gun to kill and loot. The acquaintance told law enforcement. They obtained ping information based on exigency, which was valid. Also, Franks … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Cell tower dump isn’t CSLI; doesn’t require PC, but just a court order
A cell tower dump isn’t CSLI, so actual probable cause isn’t required. Here, however, there was. In re United States, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 128532 (E.D. Mich. July 18, 2024).* “Finally, the gratuitous physical aggression at the scene cannot be … Continue reading
D.Mont.: FBI 302s not discoverable to aid in PC and particularity challenge
Defendant cannot get discovery of FBI 302s just to see if the search warrant was based on whatever information that would disclose. United States v. Purkey, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 104824 (D. Mont. June 11, 2024). After all, the four … Continue reading
MN: Jail call to delete Facebook pages because of incriminating information was PC for SW
Defendant told a person he called from jail to delete his Facebook accounts because of potentially incriminating evidence on it. The state showed probable cause and particularity for the Facebook warrant. State v. Sardina-Padilla, 2024 Minn. LEXIS 307 (June 12, … Continue reading
E.D.N.Y.: To get CSLI, there must be some showing the phone was involved in the crime
Just saying that criminals usually have their cell phones on them is not sufficient for probable cause. Something tying the phone to the crime, however, is enough. Here it was text messages.United States v. Rutledge, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 76534 … Continue reading
NYLJ: Analysis: Turnabout: Cell Site Location Information for the Defense
NYLJ: Analysis: Turnabout: Cell Site Location Information for the Defense (“This article discusses cell site location information and specifically highlights the ubiquitous cell phone and its location ‘tracking’ capability in the Fulton County, Georgia, criminal prosecution against former President Donald … Continue reading
CA10: Concealing one’s identity to the police without there being an underlying offense doesn’t create PC
Concealing one’s identity to the police without there being an underlying offense doesn’t create probable cause. No qualified immunity: “Our cases are clear: law enforcement needs reasonable suspicion of a ‘predicate, underlying crime,’ not a generalized suspicion a person is … Continue reading
E.D.Cal.: Stop for expired registration during Covid extension of time to register cars was objectively unreasonable
The stop of defendant’s car for expired tags but within the period of the state’s Covid executive order extending time to register cars was objectively not reasonable, even where the officer was unaware of the meaning of the EO. United … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Govt’s civil discovery demands don’t implicate the 4A
When the government is sued, its discovery demands do not implicate the Fourth Amendment. Arizona Yage Assembly v. Barr, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42197 (D. Ariz. Feb. 22, 2024). The obtaining of defendants CSLI before Carpenter was lawful then, and … Continue reading
VA: Capias for detention of person not functional equivalent of arrest warrant; no PC finding
A Virginia capias for detention of a person is not the functional equivalent of an arrest warrant founded on sworn probable cause. The police view of the inside of defendant’s home that led to a search warrant is suppressed. Commonwealth … Continue reading