A state search warrant was used to prosecute in federal court. Defendant raised numerous state law defects to the warrant that did not constitute Fourth Amendment violations. “Even if these warrants were procedurally deficient under state law, Gray has supplied no reason why suppression would be the appropriate response in federal court.” United States v. Gray, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 103103 (W.D. Ky. June 10, 2024).
The police obtained a key to the common door of an apartment building to conduct a dog sniff of defendant’s apartment door to get a warrant for the apartment. Dog sniffs of apartment doors were approved by this circuit in 2010. Moreover, the good faith exception applies. United States v. Garrett, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102440 (D. Minn. June 10, 2024).*
Defendant had no standing in the cell phone of another. (His own cell phone search was suppressed before trial.) Smith v. United States, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102557 (M.D. Ala. June 10, 2024).*
The officers had reasonable suspicion to extend the traffic stop and call in a dog. Both defendant and the passenger had criminal histories and were on probation. The officers appropriately considered defendant’s nervousness and the passenger’s evasive behavior. That added up to reasonable suspicion. State v. Sargent, 2024 ND 121, 2024 N.D. LEXIS 115 (June 6, 2024).*
Smell of marijuana during a traffic stop then a false name from the driver was reasonable suspicion. United States v. Witherspoon, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 14013 (3d Cir. June 10, 2024).*
Manual border search of defendant’s cell phone was reasonable and revealed child pornography, and that justification for a more intensive search. United States v. Mendez, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 14058 (7th Cir. June 10, 2024).
Defendant rented his hotel room, so he has standing to challenge the protective sweep which is found valid on the merits. United States v. Ford, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101548 (N.D. Tex. June 7, 2024).*
Police responding to a call about a man not breathing had exigency to enter defendant’s house. United States v. Burton, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101825 (D. Minn. Apr. 25, 2024),* adopted, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 102056 (D. Minn. June 7, 2024).*
The warrantless DNA swabbing of defendant’s apartment door was within the curtilage because it required physical contact, which is different than a dog sniff. “Although members of the public and law-enforcement officers generally have an implied license to approach a home physically knock on the front door, and wait briefly to be received [under Jardines], they have no implied license to remove material from the door handle and lock for laboratory testing.” State v. McNeal, 2024 Minn. App. LEXIS 264 (June 10, 2024).
Comparing the probable cause finding here with that of other somewhat similar cases, the court concludes that there was at least a substantial basis for finding probable cause. Therefore, the motion to suppress is denied. United States v. Garrett, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101474 (E.D. Pa. June 7, 2024).*
2254 petitioner never really responded to the R&R finding that he couldn’t raise a Fourth Amendment claim on habeas. On the merits, he can’t prevail. Majalca v. Thornell, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101522 (D. Ariz. June 7, 2024).*
The Kansas Pet Animal Act did not satisfy the closely-regulated-industries standards of Burger and Patel. Johnson v. Smith, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 14019 (10th Cir. June 10, 2024):
wired: The Age of the Drone Police Is Here (“In Chula Vista, drone flight paths trace a map of the city’s inequality, with poorer residents experiencing far more exposure to the drones’ cameras and rotors than their wealthier counterparts, a WIRED analysis of nearly 10,000 drone flight records from July 2021 to September 2023 found. The drones, often dispatched for serious incidents like reports of armed individuals, are also routinely deployed for minor issues such as shoplifting, vandalism, and loud music. Early in the Covid-19 pandemic, the city even used drones to broadcast public service announcements to homeless encampments.”)
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Failure to provide a complete list of all that was seized under a warrant wasn’t justification for suppression. United States v. Jackson, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13913 (3d Cir. June 7, 2024).
The dashcam video supported the claim defendant was speeding justifying the stop. United States v. Moore, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101043 (E.D. Tex. May 6, 2024),* adopted, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99596 (E.D. Tex. June 4, 2024).*
There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s stop and then a protective sweep of the car. United States v. McMullen, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13928 (6th Cir. June 7, 2024).*
There was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s search under supervision for violation of rules including failed drug tests. United States v. Valenzuela, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101419 (D. Nev. June 7, 2024).*
Defendant’s stop based on a mistaken belief the vehicle was stolen was not objectively reasonable when it was based on calling in the wrong number. United States v. Fields, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99668 (D. Minn. June 5, 2024), rejecting in part 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100963 (D. Minn., Apr. 8, 2024). [This is right from the script of an early Bosch (on Amazon; likely second season) episode where an officer called in a wrong LPN to justify a stop, and his partner questioned it.]
Long term drug dealing then a shooting related to a drug deal wasn’t stale. It also provided probable cause that a firearm would be found at defendant’s home. United States v. Mays, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101012 (E.D. Mich. June 6, 2024).*
“Hoeft says that the officers seized him by blocking the alley. Assuming he’s right, the seizure was reasonable. When the officers arrived, they knew about the manager’s report that a trespasser was passed out behind the wheel of a small white truck, and they saw a truck that matched the description and appeared to be running. Based on these articulable facts, the officers had reasonable suspicion that Hoeft was trespassing and had ‘physical control of a[] vehicle while’ intoxicated.” United States v. Hoeft, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13880 (8th Cir. June 7, 2024).*
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The district court’s grant of qualified immunity is reversed. There are factual disputes for trial that the shooting death of plaintiff’s decedent was unreasonable because he presented no threat and was shot without warning. Calonge v. City of San Jose, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13912 (9th Cir. June 7, 2024):
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Taking of photographs of a fire scene of a mobile home that burned to the ground was not a Fourth Amendment violation. There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in the remains. United States v. Hernandez, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13887 (10th Cir. June 7, 2024). [Photos in the opinion.]
Defendant’s Franks claim that the passcode for defendant’s cell phone was obtained by illegal means was but a legal conclusion and it was wrong. United States v. Fritzinger, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101176 (E.D.N.C. June 6, 2024).*
Defendant abandoned the backpack in a house she had no right to enter, so it logically followed that she did not have a reasonable expectation of privacy in the backpack and its contents. Commonwealth v. Coles, 2024 PA Super 121 (June 7, 2024).*
While the law isn’t completely clear on the justification for a cell phone search at the border, the justification for either standard is satisfied. There was clearly reasonable suspicion of drug importing at JFK for search of his cell phone. United States v. Tineo, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101200 (E.D.N.Y. June 6, 2024).
A police officer’s affidavit that defendant fired a gun at his car on the Long Island Expressway showed probable cause for a search warrant of the car. People v. Morillo, 2024 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2378 (Queens Co. May 20, 2024).*
Plaintiff inmate’s complaint that prison officials violated his Fourth Amendment by misdelivering non-legal mail didn’t state a claim. Bell v. State Prison Offs., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13817 (5th Cir. June 6, 2024).*
Defendant’s parole cell phone search under Minnesota law was reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Guevara, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100403 (D. Minn. June 6, 2024).
Driving one’s car to controlled buys gives probable cause for the vehicle. State v. Soto-Sarabia, 333 Or. App. 46 (June 5, 2024).*
Defendant’s stop was justified by reasonable suspicion. When he didn’t have a DL, he was ordered out and a baggie of methamphetamine fell to the ground. That was probable cause. Guam v. Rufes, 2024 Guam Trial Order LEXIS 91 (May 30, 2024).*
The Coast Guard did not use unreasonable excessive force in firing 19 warning shots from a helicopter to get defendants to stop their boat. United States v. Menocal-Mero, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99881 (D.V.I. June 5, 2024).
Viewing the bodycam, “The Court need not opine on whether Officer Wesler had reasonable suspicion to search Mr. Anderson merely from his observations of the bag at the time he exited the vehicle, because those suspicions were heightened by Mr. Anderson’s subsequent flight from the uniformed officers.” United States v. Anderson, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99365 (S.D.N.Y. May 28, 2024).*
“First, McGee’s statements were non-custodial because he: (1) was not under arrest; (2) was not a suspect; (3) was in his own home and had unrestrained freedom of movement while speaking to the officers; and (4) voluntarily responded to questions and did not object to providing basic information to officers. … Second, McGee’s statements were the product of rational intellect and free will. … Third, the initial search of the residence was justified by exigent circumstances because the unsecured firearm posed a danger to the officers and other occupants of the home. …” United States v. McGee, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99902 (E.D. Ark. June 5, 2024).*
Prison shakedown search that included strip searches was reasonable. “The foregoing sufficiently demonstrates the fittingness of these strip searches under the Fourth Amendment. These routine strip searches, which occur only twice per year, require the upheaval of all prisoners and their personal belongings. The prison is entitled to conduct these searches and it sensibly explains that these searches require additional reinforcement. In this case, that meant adding roughly 20 women. … Their purpose was to help locate contraband by providing officers with the time, security, and additional manpower to do so. They accomplished their goal.” Cook v. Horsley, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99751 (N.D. Tex. June 5, 2024).*
“The issue before us is narrow—whether the trial court’s finding of probable cause for the traffic stop is supported by competent, credible evidence. We find that it is.” The dashcam video shows it. State v. Williams, 2024-Ohio-2146 (4th Dist. May 28, 2024).*
There were fact questions on whether force here was excessive, so qualified immunity appeal dismissed. Chambliss v. Brevard Cty. Sheriff’s Office, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13630 (11th Cir. June 5, 2024).*
Alleged unnecessary shooting of plaintiff’s dog stated claim with no qualified immunity. Plowright v. Miami Dade Cty., 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13613 (11th Cir. June 5, 2024):
Trial court order: Va. Lawyers Weekly: Automatic license plate reader data suppressed by Nick Hurston (“A trial court found that Norfolk’s newly installed automatic license plate reader, or ALPR, camera system constituted a Fourth Amendment search and granted a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence and poisonous fruit gathered from the warrantless search.”). This will be appealed.
NY Times: Is Your Driving Being Secretly Scored? by Kashmir Hill (“The insurance industry, hungry for insights into how people drive, has turned to automakers and smartphone apps like Life360.”) Almost a cloud based black box for your car.
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“[T]he Fourth Amendment does not require a warrant to arrest a parole violator.” United States v. Carpenter, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13596 (9th Cir. June 5, 2024).
The CI for the warrant is not disclosable under Roviaro. United States v. Christian, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99361 (D.N.M. June 4, 2024).*
Three weeks was not too stale for a warrant in a shooting case, and probable cause was otherwise shown. State v. Sallis, 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 423 (June 5, 2024).*
Even a minor traffic offense justifies a stop. State v. Sallis, 2024 Iowa App. LEXIS 423 (June 5, 2024).*
Defendant parolee was a passenger in a car, and the area of the car he was sitting in was subject to search. United States v. Pullen, 2024 U.S. App. LEXIS 13604 (9th Cir. June 5, 2024).
“The blood draw was not an unreasonable search because the Appellant voluntarily consented. The circumstances of the encounter weigh in favor of the voluntariness of the consent. The encounter occurred at approximately midnight in the back of an ambulance. Only one officer, Trooper Burrell, was present. Though Trooper Burrell initiated contact with the Appellant, there was no apparent hostility and no weapons displayed. Trooper Burrell requested consent for the blood draw, which the Appellant immediately provided. Regardless of whether Trooper Burrell explained the waiver form before or after the blood draw, ‘knowledge of a right to refuse is not a prerequisite of a voluntary consent.’ Schneckloth, 412 U.S. at 234.” State v. Barr, 2024 Tenn. Crim. App. LEXIS 234 (June 5, 2024).*
Defendant’s Fourth Amendment ineffective assistance of counsel claim fails on the merits of the search. United States v. Edwards, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99271 (D. Mont. June 4, 2024).*
"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, Let it Bleed (album, 1969)
"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]
“Children grow up thinking the adult world is ordered, rational, fit for purpose. It’s crap. Becoming a man is realising that it’s all rotten. Realising how to celebrate that rottenness, that’s freedom.” – John le Carré, The Night Manager (1993), line by Richard Roper
"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)
The book was dedicated in the first (1982) and sixth (2025) editions to Justin William Hall (1975-2025). He was three when this project started in 1978.
