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Recent Posts
- Lawfare: How Google’s Location History Program Could Upend Digital Surveillance Law
- CA6 disagrees with CA7 on de minimis injuries under § 1983 force cases
- MO: No duty of care owed by police to fleeing motorist
- D.P.R.: Indictment for possession of switches to convert handguns to machine guns justified vehicle search when defendant was stopped
- N.D.Ohio: Heroin and three guns in plain view was exigency for entry with child alone inside
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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,
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)
--Federal Statutes Governing Wiretapping and Electronic Eavesdropping (2012)
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Section 1983 Blog -
"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)
Website design by Wally Waller, Little Rock 
Monthly Archives: January 2022
D.Nev.: Def’s Facebook posts he was selling fake IDs gave PC to search it
An officer found defendant selling fake IDs via Facebook. “The Facebook Warrant contained posts from this account indicating that the account-operator was selling fake IDs, including by specifying that the IDs could help people avoid warrants, fines, and jail time. … Continue reading
CA2: MLAT treaty search of Netherlands server was a foreign search
El Chapo’s case: The district court was correct in not suppressing telephone calls on a drug cartel network set up in the Netherlands to facilitate their drug trafficking. The information was obtained by an MLAT treaty request, and it was … Continue reading
E.D.Pa.: Govt’s post-trial concession search was illegal undermines half the counts of conviction, and no harmless error on remainder
The government concedes after conviction on seven counts that three of the counts against defendant were the product of an illegal search. They argue the remainder can stand without it. It can’t because, if there was any doubt for any … Continue reading
CA11: FBI’s negligence in taking six months to search def’s truck and computers did not require suppression
“Bruce Nicholson, an Alabama man convicted of federal child sex crimes and sentenced to life in prison, challenges his conviction on direct appeal. The main question in this criminal appeal is, as it often is, whether a criminal should ‘go … Continue reading
E.D.Wis.: Inventory was unreasonable where SOP didn’t mention inventory for overtinting and cash found wasn’t inventoried but was instead delivered to DEA
Even assuming that a tow and inventory is permissible for an illegal tint violation (comparing Atwater v. Lago Vista on trivial arrests not being unreasonable), the inventory police did not address such incidents and the inventory itself mentioned “backpack” without … Continue reading
NJ: Race and being ¾ mile from a robbery not RS
Defendants were stopped in a car ¾ of a mile and driving away from the scene of a 7-11 robbery. All the officer knew was there were two black males involved. In their car, there were three black males. That … Continue reading
NY1: Routine of leaving out of affidavit for SW that protective sweep saw drugs first revealed during trial required hearing
During the trial, NYPD officers revealed they were in the premises and conducted plain views during a walk around as a protective sweep and then sought a search warrant . It was also revealed that they routinely left information about … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Mid-trial Franks motion based on testimony still fails
Defendant filed and lost a Franks motion. He renewed it mid-trial after testimony. This one fares no better. It’s based on a claim defense counsel should have interviewed the witness earlier for the Franks motion, but all this is speculative. … Continue reading
Yahoo Finance: Tucked Inside Biden Infrastructure Bill: Unconstitutional Crypto Surveillance
Yahoo Finance: Tucked Inside Biden Infrastructure Bill: Unconstitutional Crypto Surveillance by Marta Belcher:
W.D.Tex.: Writ of error coram nobis not a remedy nor timely for evidentiary claim in 2013 suppression hearing
Defendant’s petition for writ of error coram nobis is denied as untimely, even if available at all. The claim was authentication of warrant papers as an exhibit in 2013. That’s not even a basis for the writ. He was charged … Continue reading
D.S.C.: On a 4th motion to keep SW materials under seal, granted for another year
On this fourth motion to extend deadline, the warrant materials here are ordered sealed for another year because of an ongoing investigation. The court finds redactions aren’t reasonably possible. In re Seized Misc. United States Currency, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading
CA3: Def’s immigration detention was not an egregious 4A violation
Defendant was involved in an immigration stop where officers were looking for another person allegedly illegally reentering. After finding he was not the person they were looking for, they tried to confirm his identity, and the detention might have been … Continue reading
CA7: Record supported finding that stop was not unreasonably extended
Whether a traffic stop was unreasonably extended for a drug dog to arrive is reviewed for clear error. The stop here was for overtinting, and the officer processed a warning by entering the information into the patrol car’s computer. He … Continue reading
MI: No REP in overheard jail conversations between cells recorded through intercoms
Defendants were in jail together, in separate cells 20′ apart (#1 & #4) and talking about their case through the doors’ openings. Jailers could overhear them. “When jail personnel noticed that defendants were communicating with each other by speaking loudly … Continue reading
D.R.I.: Removing back cover of cell phone to see the serial number not unreasonable during inventory
Defendant was in a car that was stopped for overtinting, and that led to a tow and inventory. The police searched for and obtained the serial numbers of four cell phones found during the inventory. They were not otherwise searched, … Continue reading
AL: When DEA adopts a seizure for forfeiture, state courts lose jurisdiction to return property
When there’s a seizure for forfeiture and the DEA adopts it, the state court loses jurisdiction to return it. Hare v. Mack, 2022 Ala. LEXIS 8 (Jan. 21, 2022). Police responded to a shots fired call at an apartment where … Continue reading
AL: SW for premises permitted search of visitor found asleep with at least some known connection to the premises
Police executed a search warrant for a house for methamphetamine. Defendant didn’t live there, but she was named in the affidavit as a frequent visitor, and she was asleep on the couch when the police came in. After getting her … Continue reading
N.D.Ill.: Losing search issue in state court collaterally estops civil § 1983 case over same search
Collateral estoppel bars plaintiff’s suit against officers who arrested and searched him. He lost on the same search issue in state court, and that’s order is final. Bertaux v. Aurora Police Dep’t, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11260 (N.D.Ill. Jan. 21, … Continue reading
CA9: Supervised release condition of cell phone searches was reasonable
“Koyanagi next challenges the special condition of supervised release requiring him to submit to periodic suspicionless searches of his electronic data. [¶] Koyanagi’s constitutional challenges to this condition are unavailing. See United States v. Bare, 806 F.3d 1011, 1018 n.4 … Continue reading