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- W.D.N.Y.: Def had no standing in a place he wasn’t allowed to be on parole
- 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
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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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"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: October 2022
PA: State’s statement of issues for review didn’t include the precise issue argued so it’s waived
The state in its statement of issues below addressed probable cause but did not mention inevitable discovery. That amounted to a waiver. “The inevitable discovery doctrine is not a subsidiary issue to a claim of adequate probable cause to support … Continue reading
FL2: Def counsel not ineffective where search evidence not objected to had no apparent prejudice to case
Defense counsel was ineffective in not moving to suppress one piece of evidence, but defendant can’t show he was prejudiced by it on the case as a whole. Szewczyk v. State, 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 7180 (Fla. 2d DCA Oct. … Continue reading
VI: Anonymous tip given observing altercation was sufficient for stop when substantially corroborated at scene
The detailed anonymous tip here was sufficient to support a stop when it was substantially corroborated at the scene. The caller observed an altercation in real time and described the two vehicles involved. It was at the top of a … Continue reading
CA9: AZ GOP head denied injunction for Jan.6 committee subpoena for call logs in 1A challenge
The head of the Arizona GOP sued the January 6th Committee to block a subpoena to T-Mobile for her call records, not content, on First Amendment Free Association grounds. On appeal, the injunction is denied. This is similar to Eastman’s … Continue reading
techdirt: Mississippi Courts Are Helping Cops Keep Search Warrants Out Of The Public’s Hands
techdirt: Mississippi Courts Are Helping Cops Keep Search Warrants Out Of The Public’s Hands by Tim Cushing (“No-knock warrants remain under fire as they continue to needlessly increase the death toll of residents who often have no idea who’s violently … Continue reading
CO: Basement apt could be searched on SW for premises based on CP coming from IP address of premises
“When Dhyne encountered police outside the house, he told them that he (1) rented a separate unit in the basement and (2) used the same IP address as the subscriber. In our view, this second piece of information is critical. … Continue reading
N.D.Ind.: Question is not actual reliability of police database, it is reasonableness of reliance on it
“As soon as [the officer] accessed [the database from the police car], he saw an alert suggesting that Defendant was armed. Defendant argues that Davis could not be sure of the accuracy of this information, but that hardly matters. Reasonable … Continue reading
IA: Breaking cell phone in half and throwing it out window of moving car shows abandonment
Removing a cell phone’s battery, breaking the phone in half, and throwing it out the window of a moving car is indicative of abandonment. State v. Hurdel, 2022 Iowa App. LEXIS 784 (Oct. 19, 2022). “While this [KC ordinance] provision … Continue reading
WaPo: They got a Ring doorbell alert, then opened fire on a bystander, police say
WaPo: They got a Ring doorbell alert, then opened fire on a bystander, police say by Justine McDaniel (“The incident may provide an extreme example of the type of neighborhood vigilantism sometimes cited by critics of doorbell cameras, the benefits … Continue reading
E.D.Mich.: Single telephone call 6 weeks before drug SW was stale
A single telephone call 6 weeks before the search warrant was sought was stale. Nothing in between. “In the context of drug crimes, ‘information goes stale very quickly “because drugs are usually sold and consumed in a prompt fashion.”’” And, … Continue reading
D.S.C.: No exigency 6 hours after 911 call
Police showed up at defendant’s house six hours after a 911 call. Whatever exigency there might have been had dissipated. Everyone in the house was asleep. United States v. Miller, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 189981 (D.S.C. Oct. 17, 2022). The … Continue reading
W.D.N.C.: Facebook post of def with backpack full of cash a year earlier wasn’t stale
Reference in a search warrant application to a Facebook post showing defendant buying expensive jewelry with a backpack full of cash at a time when he claimed no taxable income since 2017 was not stale. United States v. Grandy, 2022 … Continue reading
CA9: In excessive force case, those that did not shoot get QI; facts on those that did are in dispute
Officers who actually fired their weapons here do not get qualified immunity, but those who did not do. Peck v. Montoya, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 28822 (9th Cir. Oct. 18, 2022):
NC: Whether def was seized was what she could only believe
Defendant claimed she was lost and was stopped by police, blocking her exit. [Oversolicitously,] the court opines the officer probably thought he did nothing wrong but this was a seizure in defendant’s mind, and it was without reasonable suspicion. No … Continue reading
D.Mass.: Lawyer target of SW for records has no right to participate in the initial taint team review
A lawyer is the target of a search warrant. The government was using a taint team (or “filter team”) to review the materials for privileged matters. The lawyer proposed a more restrictive approach, and the government agreed with part of … Continue reading
M.D.Pa.: 14 yo kidnapping victim’s 911 call created exigency for def’s cell phone seizure
A 14-year-old kidnapping victim called 911 that she was taken three days earlier, and defendant was finally detained as a result. His phone was seized and a warrant obtained. The seizure of the warrant was reasonable based on all the … Continue reading
CA7: Finality and administrative subpoenas v. administrative SWs
After enforcement of an administrative subpoena, there may be a final order. After an execution of an administrative warrant, however, there usually isn’t because there are processes left with the agency and in court. In re Establishment Inspection of Anthony … Continue reading
The Conversation: What is Fog Reveal? A legal scholar explains the app some police forces are using to track people without a warrant
The Conversation: What is Fog Reveal? A legal scholar explains the app some police forces are using to track people without a warrant by Anne Toomey McKenna (“Government use of Fog Reveal highlights a problematic difference between data privacy law … Continue reading