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Recent Posts
- AR: RS def rented a hotel room was sufficient for search waiver; PC not required
- LA5: No standing to challenge search of shooting victim’s cell phone in def’s possession
- N.D.Okla.: Cell phones possessed by tribal police not subject to return under Rule 41(g)
- E.D.Ark.: Landlord and tenant refused rental property inspection and SW was validly issued and protected privacy interests
- D.D.C.: Judge shopping after denial of SW inappropriate; could have appealed to DJ
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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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--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: March 2023
OR: Cell phone SW in part for “evidence related to the crimes under investigation” was overbroad
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone was specific as to particular images but general as to others, and it is suppressed as to the others. “The fact that the media command limited the media search to ‘evidence related to … Continue reading
IA: Violation of knock-and-announce statute requires suppression
When the target of an arrest warrant opens the door, state statute requires announcement and not just barging in. Here, defendant was compliant and opened the door. The officers needed to announce their purpose. The alleged plain view inside is … Continue reading
IA: Dashcam video not conclusive evidence of justification for stop
The dashcam video of defendant’s stop wasn’t all that clear, and the trial court credited the officer’s testimony defendant drove some on the wrong side of the road at night in snowy conditions. That’s entitled to deference, as are reasonable … Continue reading
TX: Totality of circumstances applies to exigency on warrantless seizure of cell phone
“Rather than announcing a categorical rule that police may never seize personal property simply because a criminal suspect knows he is a suspect, the court of appeals should have analyzed under the totality of the circumstances whether law enforcement’s seizure … Continue reading
S.D.Cal.: Police declining to search on wife’s consent could follow her to spot and watch her do it without it being govt action
Under the two-part test, the Court finds that Ms. Valenzuela was not functioning as a government instrument at the time of her [*17] search. As to the first prong, the Chula Vista officers clearly “knew of” Ms. Valenzuela’s actions because … Continue reading
M.D.Ala.: Controlled buy 4 days earlier leading to SW comes in under 404(b)
Defendant’s motion in limine about a controlled buy four days before the warrant is denied. It comes in under 404(b). United States v. Neal, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 37649 (M.D. Ala. Mar. 7, 2023). “As already discussed at the motion … Continue reading
ars technica: FBI finally admits to buying location data on Americans, horrifying experts
ars technica: FBI finally admits to buying location data on Americans, horrifying experts by Ashley Belanger (“FBI director denied that the agency currently purchases location data.”)
CA10: Where someone was summoned to take def’s car from scene of stop, inventory of backpack was unreasonable
The search incident of defendant’s backpack was unreasonable. The government relies instead on inevitable discovery that the backpack would have been inventoried. Here, however, a friend of defendant summoned to the scene could have taken the backpack, so the government … Continue reading
Psychology Today: Legal Reasonable Suspicion Rests on Unreasonable Assumptions
Psychology Today: Legal Reasonable Suspicion Rests on Unreasonable Assumptions by Melissa Anderson & Cynthia J. Najdowski (“Stereotypes about people of color may be limiting Fourth Amendment protections.”):
OH4: When officer couldn’t find source of strong smell of MJ, he could search again under 4A
The officer encountered a strong smell of marijuana and searched the car for it coming up “empty.” He reviewed the video in the car and searched again. This one continuous effort and separate justification wasn’t needed. Suppression order reversed. State … Continue reading
MA: Crack pipe seen in plain view of passenger compartment justifies search of whole car
“The question presented by this appeal is whether a State trooper’s plain view observation of a used crack pipe in a motor vehicle provides probable cause for a warrantless search of the entire vehicle for contraband drugs. Concluding that it … Continue reading
W.D.Ky.: SW for car in impound four months after seizure based on jail call was not stale; no realistic chance of change in condition
After a jail call, the police decided to get a search warrant for defendant’s car in impound for four months for drugs in the engine compartment which had been in impound. The warrant wasn’t stale because the information was just … Continue reading
What we think of our reasonable expectation of privacy in cell phones
U.Chi. School of Law: The Myth of Fourth Amendment Circularity by Matthew B. Kugler & Lior Jacob Strahilevitz:
KS: Excessive force in unnecessary stop by PIT maneuver led to death of passenger which is suppressed
Defendant refused to stop for a broken windshield infraction, and he fled. The officer PITted his car, and the passenger died. Defendant was charged with murder for the passenger’s death. The trial court held that the seizure resulting in the … Continue reading
OH6: Officer coming to front door to knock who pauses to listen to voices inside doesn’t violate 4A
On a DV call, the officer approached the front door of defendant’s house to knock, but he paused to listen to voices inside. That listening before knocking was not an unreasonable search. State v. Kunkle, 2023-Ohio-661, 2023 Ohio App. LEXIS … Continue reading
ADG: Little Rock police moving into second phase of real-time crime center integrating citizen video feeds
Ark. Dem.-Gaz.: Little Rock police moving into second phase of real-time crime center by Grant Lancaster (new LRPD HQ “Crime Center will use cameras of residents” feeding into central video database). Networking video surveillance and doorbell cams. If we are … Continue reading
CA7: Target of SW doesn’t have to be suspected of crime
A target of a search warrant does not have to be suspected of a crime. A holder of “mere evidence” can be subjected to a search warrant. United States v. Roland, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 4987 (7th Cir. Mar. 1, … Continue reading
CA9: “Clearly established law” in one sentence
“Cardenas has not identified any case holding that police officers violated the Fourth Amendment by making an arrest under similar circumstances, and we are not aware of any such case.” Cardenas v. Saladen, 2023 U.S. App. LEXIS 5091 (9th Cir. … Continue reading
Even burner phones can be sometimes traced
Detroit News: Woman guilty in threats case after 2020 presidential election by Robert Snell:
D.Me.: CI adequately shown credible enough for PC
There’s no sufficient basis for a hearing on the credibility of the CI because it’s adequately shown he’s credible enough. Moreover, he also doesn’t get a hearing just to cross the CI. United States v. Botello, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS … Continue reading