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- W.D.Ark.: Parole search waiver moots lack of PC argument
- AR: RS shown for boating while intoxicated stop
- W.D.Mo.: Wrong address in SW wasn’t fatal where right house was searched
- NY: Failure to show independent source for officer’s observation of def required reversal
- VA: Outline of a gun in def’s pocket was RS
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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)
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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: May 2022
ID: Calling for drug dog before RS existed extended the stop
During the traffic stop, the diversion to call for a drug dog was without reasonable suspicion and it extended the stop. State v. Still, 166 Idaho 351, 458 P.3d 220 (App. 2019), is overruled. State v. Karst, 2022 Ida. LEXIS … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Information from seller’s GPS tracker on used car didn’t require a SW
Tracking a used car by its GPS for repossession didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment. Defendant bought a used car apparently to use in a robbery. A license plate reader identified the car and the police easily tracked it back to … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: § 1983 claim officers dented a door during a raid is not a 4A violation
Claim officers denting a door during a raid is not a Fourth Amendment violation. Fulbright v. Hodges, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85727 (W.D.N.C. May 12, 2022):
CA2: County order to surrender firearms on losing pistol permit wasn’t a “seizure” of his effects
Plaintiff had his pistol permit revoked under New York law. The County’s requirement he surrender his long guns when that happens is not unreasonable. The court questions whether it’s even a “seizure” of his effects under the Fourth Amendment. (He … Continue reading
TX13: Stop was consensual but became unreasonable
“We therefore conclude that, although appellant’s encounter with police may have been consensual initially, it advanced into a ‘seizure’ for Fourth Amendment purposes before appellant made any incriminating statements. Because there was no warrant, reasonable suspicion, or probable cause to … Continue reading
DE: A reporter gets access to SW materials for Apple and social media companies in this murder case
In this two defendant murder case, the state obtained 18 search warrants for Apple and social media, but only one has been returned. A reporter sought access to the affidavits, and it’s granted. Defense counsel has already been given access … Continue reading
IA: Admission of SW affidavit at trial with CI’s version violated confrontation
Admission of the search warrant affidavit here at trial with inadmissible hearsay of the CI was a violation of confrontation. State v. Martinez, 2022 Iowa App. LEXIS 410 (May 11, 2022). These search warrant materials remain sealed for one year. … Continue reading
IA: Automobile exception search of glove compartment here was unreasonable
Search of the glove compartment is reasonable to look for evidence of ownership of a car already subject to search, but that wasn’t an issue here because there was no reason to. State v. Marcott, 2022 Iowa App. LEXIS 385 … Continue reading
TX: Boilerplate in cell phone SW affidavit not unreasonable, but facts of PC must be shown too
Boilerplate language in a search warrant application for a cell phone isn’t inappropriate, but there must still be a factual showing of probable cause for search of the phone. State v. Baldwin, 2022 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 321 (May 11, … Continue reading
WaPo: When the sheriff waged a war on drugs in a Mississippi county
WaPo: When the sheriff waged a war on drugs in a Mississippi county by Jenn Abelson and Reena Flores (“No-knock raids were the rule rather than the exception, and they led to serious allegations against the department. The sheriff defended … Continue reading
S.D.Ohio: Attempted search incident well after arrest when duffle bag was away from def was not “incident to arrest”; govt overspinned the facts
The officer lacked exigency for a warrantless entry to arrest. Defendant put his duffle bag outside a second story window on the roof to conceal it. It was not abandoned because the public didn’t have access to it. All he … Continue reading
PA: Hot pursuit justified officer crossing jurisdictional lines
Hot pursuit justified an officer in one jurisdiction following defendants into another one after a robbery report on their car. Commonwealth v. Hobel, 2022 PA Super 86, 2022 Pa. Super. LEXIS 202 (May 10, 2022) (decided under state statute). “A … Continue reading
LATimes: Immigration officials created network that can spy on majority of Americans, report says
LATimes: Immigration officials created network that can spy on majority of Americans, report says by Cindy Carcamo (“Immigration and Customs Enforcement has crafted a sophisticated surveillance dragnet designed to spy on most people living in the United States, without the … Continue reading
AP: Man pleads guilty in case testing use of geofence warrant
AP (via ABC News): Man pleads guilty in case testing use of geofence warrant (“A Richmond man has pleaded guilty to bank robbery charges in a case that tested the constitutionality of broad search warrants that use Google location history … Continue reading
N.D.Ga.: Pro forma objection to R&R doesn’t articulate argument, so it’s waived
Defendant didn’t fairly articulate his objections to the R&R, so his objection is waived. United States v. Hill, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83707 (N.D.Ga. May 9, 2022). There was probable cause for this search authorization, and the good faith exception … Continue reading
CT: John Doe DNA arrest warrant based on touch DNA is too general to satisfy the particularity requirement
A John Doe DNA arrest warrant based on touch DNA is too general to satisfy the particularity requirement. State v. Terrance Police, 2022 Conn. LEXIS 123 (May 10, 2022):
MI: REP in def’s barns despite being a distance from home
Defendant had a reasonable expectation of privacy in two barns on his farm, one locked and one unlocked with the door partially open. Curtilage to the home doesn’t matter. A later search warrant only described the home and not the … Continue reading
CA10: “[N]o exclusionary rule for evidence gained through … entrapment”
“[T]here is no exclusionary rule for evidence gained through conduct later deemed to be entrapment.” United States v. Christian, 754 Fed. Appx. 747, 750 (10th Cir. 2018). United States v. Christian, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 12255 (10th Cir. May 6, … Continue reading
WaPo: 5 takeaways from The Post’s investigation into no-knock warrants
WaPo: 5 takeaways from The Post’s investigation into no-knock warrants by Courtney Kan, Jenn Abelson, and Nicole Dungca (“After police killed Breonna Taylor in her home in 2020 during a botched raid, The Washington Post spent more than a year … Continue reading