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Recent Posts
- CA7: Jail officials holding plaintiff under a valid court order aren’t liable for not releasing him sooner after a sentencing error
- Volokh: Do Fourth Amendment Protections Change When Property Is Moved?
- M.D.Pa.: Def was neither shipper nor recipient of USPS parcel, so he had no standing in it
- WI: Obtaining def’s DNA by ruse wasn’t an illegal search
- WaPo: Apple, Google and Venmo fight new U.S. plan to monitor payment apps
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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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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
CA7: 4½ days to figure out ptf was innocent didn’t violate 4A or 14A
“Eli Martinez spent four and a half days in custody while he tried to explain to his jailers that his brother, Hector M. Rodriguez, was the one described in an arrest warrant. After Martinez was released, he sued two probation … Continue reading
Techdirt: Federal Judge Says FBI Misled Magistrate When Seeking Safe Deposit Warrants, OKs Searches Anyway
Techdirt: Federal Judge Says FBI Misled Magistrate When Seeking Safe Deposit Warrants, OKs Searches Anyway by Tim Cushing (“Unfortunately, the federal court handling this case doesn’t think the FBI’s lie matters, at least not in terms of determining probable cause. … Continue reading
OH8: No PC for hot pursuit into house on less than RS
The state showed no probable cause to justify a warrantless entry into the home of a fleeing misdemeanant. Police got a citizen’s report of a possible impaired driver. When they found the car, it had just pulled into the driveway … Continue reading
D.N.M.: There is no exclusionary rule under Rule 41(g)
An action for return of property under Rule 41(g) is not a motion to suppress and does not invoke any exclusionary rule. Eastman v. United States, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 188438 (D.N.M. Oct. 14, 2022):
E.D.Ky.: Def shows nothing to support claim taint team violated attorney-client privilege in review after SW
Defendant argued that the execution of this search warrant resulted in disclosure of attorney-client privileged information because of alleged misuse of a taint team. But, he provides no context or anything to go on. Taint teams are recognized in such … Continue reading
OH8: Trial court’s order to permit def to inspect victim’s home which was scene of the crime violated 4A rights of victim
To prepare for trial, defendant sought an inspection of the victim’s home, the scene of the alleged crime of attempted murder. The trial court erred in the balancing the interests involved of the defendant’s right to a fair trial and … Continue reading
C.D.Cal.: SWAT team raid damage to house included in insurance coverage
Plaintiff’s claim against defendant insurance company for failing to pay an insurance claim for damage during a SWAT team raid on his house goes forward. The policy’s exclusionary clauses are overbroad under California law. Heard v. QBE Ins. Corp., 2022 … Continue reading
D.S.D.: Time waiting for someone to come to remove car, tow truck or friend, was part of incidents of stop
When the vehicle will be removed because of no licensed person to take control, the time between the calling of the tow truck or a friend or family member to take it away and their arrival is part of the … Continue reading
OH: Exclusionary rule does not apply to statutory violations, here a parole search
Defendant signed a consent to parole search form, but the statute says it has to be on reasonable grounds. Here, even if the statute was violated, the exclusionary rule applies to constitutional violations, not statutory ones. State v. Campbell, 2022-Ohio-3626, … Continue reading
CA5: Standard of review for QI in excessive force cases
In this excessive force case, the Fifth Circuit discusses qualified immunity in the heat of a confrontation. Henderson v. Harris County, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 28436 (5th Cir. Oct. 12, 2022). The standard of review:
ProPublica/NBC News: Police Need Warrants to Search Homes. Child Welfare Agents Almost Never Get One.
ProPublica/NBC News: Police Need Warrants to Search Homes. Child Welfare Agents Almost Never Get One. by Eli Harper (“Each year, child protective services agencies inspect the homes of roughly 3.5 million children, opening refrigerators and closets without a warrant. Only … Continue reading
FL1: SW cured alleged defect in probation search where roommate wasn’t on probation
Defendant, not on probation, lived with two probationers. POs showed up for a probation search, and when they saw the extent of what they found and had a nonprobationer, they got a search warrant for the rest of the house. … Continue reading
FL1: Illegal patdown led to flight and lawful abandonment
Defendant was lawfully stopped, but his patdown was unreasonable. Then he fled on foot. That was abandonment, despite the illegal search. Atwood v. State, 2022 Fla. App. LEXIS 6855 (Fla. 1st DCA Oct. 12, 2022):
D.Minn.: “‘The Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement is a standard of practical accuracy rather than a hypertechnical one.'”
“’The Fourth Amendment’s particularity requirement is a standard of practical accuracy rather than a hypertechnical one.’” Defendant’s particularity argument fails. It was particular enough, and good faith exception applies. United States v. Jones, 2022 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 185980 (D. Minn. … Continue reading
WaPo: All the ways Amazon’s home gadgets are spying on you
WaPo: All the ways Amazon’s home gadgets are spying on you by Geoffrey A. Fowler (“You may not realize all the ways Amazon is watching your home, your family and you.”). The title inside: Tour Amazon’s dream home, where every … Continue reading
CA9: Even conceding potential 4A violations, there was independent source for SW
Even assuming multiple Fourth Amendment violations, the exclusionary rule would not be applied because the police had an independent source in a search warrant that did not depend on the illegal entry. An anticipatory warrant was contemplated but never sought. … Continue reading
OH3: An expert witness is not required on the staleness of CP
There is no requirement of an expert in child pornography investigation to be an affiant to provide information about lack of staleness. Also, this was raised for the first time on appeal. State v. Benedict, 2022-Ohio-3600, 2022 Ohio App. LEXIS … Continue reading
CT: Entry onto def’s deck was for community caretaking function
The officer’s entry onto defendant’s deck here was of a community caretaking function to inform defendant that a loved one was going to the hospital. It was like a knock-and-talk. State v. Kuehn, 2022 Conn. Super. LEXIS 2075 (Sep. 13, … Continue reading
D.Neb.: Eviction of unruly hotel guest is loss of REP in room as soon as decision is made, even without statute authorizing it
Eviction of an unruly guest from a motel or hotel results in a loss of the renter’s reasonable expectation of privacy even if there is no statute governing it. Thus, the proprietor can hand over the keys to the police … Continue reading
WaPo: 6 questions about flying with marijuana, answered
WaPo: 6 questions about flying with marijuana, answered | What to know about federal laws, TSA and flying with CBD by Natalie B. Compton: