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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 (26,730+ on WordPress as of 12/31/23) -
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Fourth Amendment cases,
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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 -
"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: Pole cameras
S.D.Ohio: Pole cam observation of def with blunt was RS for stop
Zooming in on a pole cam video, officers determined that defendant had a blunt in his hand when he was getting in his car. The question is reasonable suspicion, and officers don’t have to exhaust the innocent possibilities before acting … Continue reading
FL2: Private pole camera was potentially the tort of “intrusion on seclusion”
In a fence line dispute, defendants’ posting a 25’ high pole camera watching plaintiff’s property stated a claim for intrusion on seclusion. Jackman v. Cebrink-Swartz, 2021 Fla. App. LEXIS 4321 (Fla. 2d DCA Mar. 26, 2021). So how will this … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: No REP as to pole camera surveillance, one in an apt building hallway
Two surveillance cameras were installed; one on a pole, one in a hallway of an apartment building. Defendant, a visitor, had no reasonable expectation of privacy. A codefendant already litigated this motion and lost, and he should have acknowledged the … Continue reading
D.Kan.: Surreptitiously video recording a VA doctor’s exam does not violate 4A
The VA video recorded a physical exam of defendant as a part of a fraud investigation into obtaining VA benefits. Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy against recording because the examiner could have reported everything in detail anyway. United … Continue reading
Massachusetts holds long term pole camera surveillance of one’s home can violate REP and state constitution
Long term surveillance of defendant’s homes with pole cameras wasn’t a Fourth Amendment violation but it could violate the Massachusetts Constitution. Two defendants show a reasonable expectation of privacy under a “mosaic theory” which has been recognized in Massachusetts. Remanded … Continue reading
Colorado grants review of pole camera surveillance
“Petition for Writ of Certiorari GRANTED. EN BANC. [¶] Whether the court of appeals erred in concluding that video surveillance through a camera mounted to a utility pole constituted a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment.” People v. … Continue reading
CA6: Camera in fake smoke detector outside def’s door in apt building hallway violated no REP
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in images captured by a camera warrantlessly placed in a fake smoke detector on the ceiling of his apartment building hallway right outside his door. United States v. Trice, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: Seven weeks of pole camera surveillance of front of house was reasonable
A pole camera observing the front of defendant’s house for seven weeks was reasonable. United States v. Bronner, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 113076 (M.D. Fla. May 18, 2020):
E.D.Mich.: Innocent explanations for pole camera evidence to get SW didn’t make a Franks challenge because there still was PC
Defendant’s innocent explanations for what pole camera videos showed that were not in the affidavit for search warrant do not amount to a Franks challenge. There still was probable cause. United States v. Joye, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66463 (E.D. … Continue reading
EFF: EFF, ACLU & CDT Argue Five Months of Warrantless Covert 24/7 Video Surveillance Violates 4A
EFF: EFF, ACLU & CDT Argue Five Months of Warrantless Covert 24/7 Video Surveillance Violates Fourth Amendment by Jennifer Lynch (“Should the fact that your neighbors can see the outside of your house mean the police can use a camera … Continue reading
S.D.W.Va.: No REP in pole camera observations of who came and went from def’s front door
Pole camera observations from the street ended up in a wiretap application. Carpenter provides no relief. The only observations were the comings and goings from the house for which there was no reasonable expectation of privacy. “Because the Defendant has … Continue reading
CA1: Franks offer of proof didn’t show materiality or undermine PC
Defendant’s appeal is based on his claim that the district court erred in not holding a Franks hearing. Defendant didn’t show enough in his allegations to show that the omissions were material to the showing of probable cause. United States … Continue reading
CA8 has a pole camera case involving the front door but finds it harmless, if even a 4A violation
Defendant in a child pornography case had a pole camera set up across the street from his house to see who was going in. He challenges the surveillance, but the court finds, if error, it’s harmless on the record as … Continue reading
CO holds four months of pole camera surveillance of def’s fenced-in backyard was unreasonable and violated 4A
Four months of warrantless and continuous pole camera surveillance of defendant’s fenced-in back yard was unreasonable and violated his reasonable expectation of privacy under the Fourth Amendment. People v. Tafoya, 2019 COA 176, 2019 Colo. App. LEXIS 1799 (Nov. 27, … Continue reading
D.Ariz.: Def had no REP against use of a zooming pole camera across from the front of his house
The DEA set up a pole camera across the street from defendant’s house to watch the comings and goings expecting a car to go to New Mexico with drugs. There is no reasonable expectation of privacy in what the camera … Continue reading
ND: Pole camera surveillance caught def frequenting a trailer park known for drug sales; he was stopped there with RS
Reasonable suspicion existed to detain defendant for coming into a trailer park known for its drug sales. Police had a pole camera set up recording comings and goings, and defendant had been there multiple times before. On the totality of … Continue reading
HuffPo: Newark’s Surveillance System Puts Communities Of Color Under Constant Watch
HuffPo: Newark’s Surveillance System Puts Communities Of Color Under Constant Watch by Kiara Alfonseca: The Citizen Virtual Patrol, a 24/7 public surveillance system, lets anyone watch the city’s streets from anywhere at any time, through as many as 127 cameras.
D.Mass.: Eight months of constant pole camera digital recording of all comings and goings from defendants’ house violated their reasonable expectation of privacy under Carpenter
The government intends to use at trial parts of eight months of constant pole camera digital recording of all comings and goings from defendants’ house. Such recording and preserving it violated their reasonable expectation of privacy under Carpenter and chilled … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: No REP in a pole camera’s view in a public place
There is no reasonable expectation of privacy as to a pole camera on business property in a public area. United States v. Gbenedio, 2019 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83682 (N.D. Ga. Mar. 29, 2019). The alleged fact of a telephone call … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Stationary video surveillance of a common area not subject to Carpenter
Stationary video surveillance outside an apartment building of common areas is not at all analogous to Carpenter. “The defendant urges the court to compare his facts to those in Whitaker. Dkt. No. 223 at 9. The defendant argues that a … Continue reading