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- CA11: QI for FBI SWAT raiding wrong house at 3:30 am
- NYLJ: Analysis: Turnabout: Cell Site Location Information for the Defense
- CA11: QI in suicide by cop case
- CA11: Officer’s experience and opinions about CP collectors and retention of information is entitled to weight in PC determination
- AZ: Private search and apparent consent don’t support warrantless search of SD card in video voyeurism case
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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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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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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)
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Monthly Archives: February 2022
W.D.Pa.: SW for what turned out to be multiunit apts is suppressed, and no GFE
The multi-unit character of the property being searched under a warrant wasn’t immediately apparent to the officers, or so they said. The court doesn’t credit that because they knew defendant was in “apartment 3” on the third floor. Post-search follow-up … Continue reading
M.D.Fla.: GFE applies to warrant execution issues
Officers had a search warrant for the premises of a house, and an outbuilding off the curtilage was searched, too. “Defendant next argues that the officers exceeded the scope of the search warrant because the converted shed was outside of … Continue reading
IA: PC to search a car is not per se PC to search the driver; more is needed
Probable cause to search a car under the automobile exception does not automatically give probable cause to search the person of the driver. It depends on the facts. State v. Stevens, 2022 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 13 (Feb. 18, 2022). Temporarily … Continue reading
CA9: Civil 4A case requires showing of standing, too
Plaintiff’s failure to specify his standing for an alleged Fourth Amendment violation defeats his civil claim. Sanghvi v. County of San Bernardino, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4335 (9th Cir. Feb. 17, 2022).* “Given the findings of fact at issue here, … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Typo in title of SW of no consequence at all
The fact the search warrant had a typo and was called “search warrant affidavit” is of no moment. It was obviously the warrant. The affidavit also showed plenty of probable cause. Boddie v. Morales, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 29509 (N.D.Ind. … Continue reading
ID: If a motion to suppress is untimely, at least show good cause for the delay
The trial court did not err in denying a motion to suppress as untimely without inquiring into possible good cause or excusable neglect for the delay where the defense offered nothing on that. Defendant stripping down and leaving his clothes … Continue reading
MA: ShotSpotter alert and officer’s observations were RS on totality
ShotSpotter alert received by a nearby officer in the early morning hours with his observations on the scene in a minute or so on the totality was reasonable suspicion. Commonwealth v. Ford, 2022 Mass. App. LEXIS 14 (Feb. 18, 2022):
CA7: Officers not liable for search of wrong apartment in reliance on SW description
In a § 1983 case over a search of the wrong apartment, the affidavit for the search warrant could be relied upon in good faith. The mistake was negligent at best, and it didn’t support civil liability here. The officers … Continue reading
M.D.N.C.: Police-suspect confrontation with guns drawn is a seizure
A police car blocking defendant’s car and officers getting out with guns drawn is a seizure. Here it was with reasonable suspicion. United States v. McDonald, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28667 (M.D.N.C. Feb. 16, 2022).* A state search warrant for … Continue reading
N.D.Ala.: Officer tailing GPS from bank robbery loot had exigency
“Brown first argues that counsel provided ineffective assistance by failing to raise three specific arguments in his defense: that the arresting officer violated Brown’s Fourth Amendment rights by (1) arresting Brown outside of the officer’s Birmingham jurisdiction, (2) entering a … Continue reading
CA1: GFE applies to warrant execution issues
The First Circuit makes clear that the good faith exception applies to warrant execution issues despite Leon’s statement it should not. (Not the first court to hold this.) United States v. Pimentel, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4350 (1st Cir. Feb. … Continue reading
CA11 (en banc): GFE considered even though waived before the panel
The Eleventh Circuit en banc concludes that the good faith exception may sometimes be reached on appeal even though the government didn’t raise it before the panel. United States v. Campbell, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4317 (11th Cir. Feb. 16, … Continue reading
NPR: San Francisco DA drops charges against woman linked to crime through rape victim DNA
NPR: San Francisco DA drops charges against woman linked to crime through rape victim DNA by Vanessa Romo (The DA found it a Fourth Amendment violation).
FL4: Prosr’s argument def refused to give password to phone violated 4A
“The trial court erred in denying Appellant’s motion in limine and allowing the State to present evidence and argument referencing Appellant’s refusal to provide his cellphone PIN and his refusal to consent to a warrantless search of his entire cellphone. … Continue reading
CA7: “Police officers owe judges candor when seeking search warrants.”
“Police officers owe judges candor when seeking search warrants.” This officer’s wrong guess as to the place to be searched for a search warrant exposed the officer to liability. Taylor v. Hughes, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 4276 (7th Cir. Feb. … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: No standing to challenge alleged interception of calls between another person and his lawyer
Plaintiff’s claim that government agents intercepted telephone calls between some other person and his lawyer in violation of the attorney-client privilege fails because he had no standing to complain. Labreche v. Chambers, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28163 (W.D.N.C. Feb. 16, … Continue reading
CA6: Govt’s failure to argue standing below was mere “forfeiture” not “waiver”
The government can raise lack of standing for the first time on appeal unless it waived it below. At any rate, it can be reviewed for plain error. This also happened in United States v. Noble, 762 F.3d 509, 526-28 … Continue reading
W.D.Wis.: Guest of an overnight guest had standing, even where owner didn’t know
The guest of an overnight guest on the premises of the owner but without the owner’s knowledge had standing. “Defendants contend that Furdge had no legitimate privacy interest because he was in the home temporarily, lacked Rundle’s knowledge or consent, … Continue reading