There was probable cause for the search of defendant’s car. He also claimed that the car was searched before the warrant for it issued. Based on a drone video, defendant was Tasered, and an officer opened and closed the car door, making sure no one else was in it. The court credits that. [Besides, inevitable discovery.] State v. Scott, 2026 La. App. LEXIS 2081 (La. App. 5 Cir Oct. 7, 2026).*
“In the present case, there was uncontroverted testimony that before entering the apartment, North Olmsted police heard an individual say he was ‘tripping,’ that the individual asked for help, and that he requested an ambulance. There also was uncontroverted testimony that unlike in Fisher — and even though subjective belief is irrelevant — North Olmsted police summoned medical aid before entering the dwelling. Indeed, the uncontroverted testimony was that even with medical personnel on the scene, the officers continued to knock and announce themselves. It was not until officers heard a thud or thump, followed by silence, that they decided — in conjunction with medical personnel, no less — to make a warrantless entry.” Defense’s effort to minimize the “thud” doesn’t make the entry unreasonable. State v. Jordan, 2026-Ohio-3956 (8th Dist. Oct. 8, 2026).*
On the totality, there was reasonable suspicion for defendant’s Terry stop and then a frisk of his bag. United States v. Brooks, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 231135 (E.D. Tenn. Oct. 8, 2026).*
“The Court finds that Cruz’s claim fails because, even assuming arguendo that the omissions he cites were material, Agent Jensen lacked the requisite mental state to warrant suppression under Franks. Specifically, after hearing Agent Jensen’s testimony, and considering her demeanor and the credibility and consistency of her answers in light of the record as a whole, the Court finds that she did not act with either the intent to mislead then-Magistrate Judge Roanne L. Mann about the results of her investigation, nor with reckless disregard to whether the information she did provide was misleading.” United States v. Cruz, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230292 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 7, 2026).*
Posted inAutomatic license plate readers|Comments Off on Reason: Other Courts Should Heed a Federal Judge’s Warning About Flock-Enabled Mass Surveillance
Posted inBorder search, Cell phones, SCOTUS|Comments Off on Reason: Are Warrantless Phone Searches at the Border Constitutional? The Supreme Court May Soon Decide.
The informant was acting as an agent of the government in conducting the search here. United States v. Minkkinen, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230696 (S.D. W. Va. Oct. 7, 2026):
Plaintiff suffered from dementia and resisted the police. “We need not decide whether Jaso’s using the taser violated the Fourth Amendment. Even resolving any genuine factual disputes in the plaintiff’s favor, no precedent clearly forbade Jaso from deploying his taser once against the erratic, actively resisting suspect he confronted.” Navejas v. City of El Paso, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30829 (5th Cir. Oct. 8, 2026).* (Taser should be capitalized.)
The dog sniff did not prolong the stop, and there was reasonable suspicion anyway. The dog alert was then probable cause. United States v. Blackburn, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 229738 (E.D. Tex. Sep. 14, 2026).*
The officer’s claim of reasonable suspicion defendant was armed in his front waistband was belied by the officer’s frisk of the back pockets first. United States v. Hurston, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230423 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 7, 2026).*
WaPo: After string of crimes, e-bikes and scooters come under scrutiny in D.C. (“‘Alleged crimes involving a Lime vehicle are a tiny fraction of Lime rides but any level of crime is unacceptable,’ Duthely said in a statement. If someone is using a GPS-tracked Lime vehicle to break the law, D.C. police can subpoena that information, Duthely added.”) Not to mention get the credit card information used to rent it.
Posted inUncategorized|Comments Off on WaPo: After string of crimes, e-bikes and scooters come under scrutiny in D.C.
Defendant passenger’s detention was lawful when the car was stopped because of a warrant on the owner-driver. Being ordered into the car was also reasonable for officer safety. United States v. Negrete, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30736 (8th Cir. Oct. 8, 2026).
There was probable cause for the warrant for defendant’s house. The police did a lot to corroborate the informant. Yes, they could have done more, but they did enough to show the informant knew what he was talking about. United States v. Goddard, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30700 (6th Cir. Oct. 7, 2026).*
Motion to reconsider denied. The court fully considered the case cited, and defense counsel misrepresented the facts of that case in this motion. United States v. Ostein, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230116 (M.D. Tenn. Oct. 7, 2026).*
Defendant passenger’s detention was lawful when the car was stopped because of a warrant on the owner-driver. Being ordered into the car was also reasonable for officer safety. United States v. Negrete, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30736 (8th Cir. Oct. 8, 2026).
Officers had probable cause but no exigency for a warrantless entry into defendant’s apartment. Animals were unattended, defendant hadn’t been seen in days, and urine and feces was all they could smell, not dead animals. Therefore, entry suppressed. People v Footman, 2026 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 14222 (Bronx Co. Sep. 18, 2026).*
There was probable cause for a stalking warrant against plaintiff, including his planting a GPS device on the stalkee’s car. Everett v. McCall, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30696 (11th Cir. Oct. 7, 2026).*
There was no Franks violation, and there was probable cause. Yes, the officer could have done more to investigate, but that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t probable cause. United States v. Cruz, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 230292 (E.D.N.Y. Oct. 7, 2026):
Defendants lacked standing in the real property they were attempting to buy but the deal fell through. They knew they had to leave and hadn’t yet. They essentially were trespassers, not tenants. United States v. Wahhaj, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30508 (10th Cir. Oct. 6, 2026).
Defendant’s car went airborne and hit a building. There was probable cause to believe he was under the influence, and he was unconscious, so the warrantless blood draw at the hospital was reasonable. State v. Pierangeli, 2026 Wisc. App. LEXIS 1112 (Oct. 7, 2026).*
“Because the evidence supports a finding that the warrant process would have significantly delayed defendant’s blood draw, under circumstances where law enforcement assistance was scarce, and Miller reasonably believed that the evidence of defendant’s blood alcohol would be lost as a result of the delay, the trial court did not err in concluding that exigent circumstances were present that justified the warrantless blood draw under the Oregon and federal constitutions.” State v. Butler, 353 Or App 595 (Oct. 7, 2026).*
Posted inEmergency / exigency, Standing|Comments Off on CA10: No standing in real property defs attempted to buy but didn’t and then wouldn’t leave
Supposedly relying on a personal GPS device, the FBI SWAT team raided the wrong house, three houses from the target location and on a different street. The FTCA suit is barred under the discretionary function exception to the Federal Tort Claims Act. The officer, however, does not get qualified immunity on his separate claim. Martin v. United States, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30717 (11th Cir. Oct. 7, 2026) (an example of hard cases make bad law):
Posted inAutomatic license plate readers|Comments Off on The Record: Oklahoma judge’s Flock ruling shows the power of Supreme Court’s digital evidence decision
In a dog fighting investigation, Dallas PD [showing great respect for the rights of a homeowner] got a drone fly over warrant for residential property. Seeing dogs chained up in a dog fighting training configuration, officers obtained a search warrant for the property. On the good faith exception alone, the search is valid. United States v. Boyd, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 228859 (N.D. Tex. Oct. 2, 2026).
Defendant’s cursory argument the affidavit for warrant was bare bones and the magistrate was not neutral and detached isn’t enough to overcome the good faith exception. United States v. Franklin, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 227802 (N.D. Miss. Oct. 5, 2026).*
There was probable cause based on collective knowledge. People v. Wilson, 2026 Mich. App. LEXIS 8405 (Oct. 5, 2026).*
The officer’s search of defendant’s SD card didn’t exceed that of the private search. United States v. Matheny, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30514 (4th Cir. Oct. 6, 2026).*
CNS: Colorado woman wrongfully cited for theft files class action against Flock by Amanda Pampuro (“Columbine Valley Police pursued theft charges against a Colorado woman based on footage captured on Flock cameras around her hometown.”). Too much reliance on surveillance technology (like too much reliance on AI), and too little on common sense to actually investigate? Flock doesn’t sound like the bad actor much in the complaint:
Posted inAutomatic license plate readers|Comments Off on CNS: Colorado woman wrongfully cited for theft files class action against Flock [and the police “relying” on it]
This is a Rule 41(g) petition for return of electronics seized by HSI in NYC on a Louisiana warrant for a Louisiana investigation, but no charges yet. HSI doesn’t support the basis for the seizure and hasn’t produced the warrant papers. The equities favor return of the property. Also, waiting for the Louisiana matter to play out doesn’t deprive this court of jurisdiction since the seizure was here. Wexler v. United States, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 228502 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 5, 2026).
Plaintiff’s suit over his arrest is barred by Heck. Hanke v. Grajeda, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 226615 (W.D. Ark. Aug. 24, 2026).*
Open containers and the smell of marijuana was reasonable suspicion, and that led to a search of the vehicle. United States v. Lyons, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 227394 (W.D.N.C. Oct. 5, 2026).*
Suits against Secret Service officers are a new Bivens context and barred. Williams v. United States, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 228129 (D.D.C. Oct. 5, 2026).*
North Carolina officers put a warrant approved tracker on defendant’s vehicle. That out-of-state warrant led to defendant’s conviction in Virginia. The out-of-state warrant was issued on probable cause, and it didn’t violate the Fourth Amendment tracking him in Virginia. A tracking warrant often will cross state lines, and that’s not a constitutional violation. At the minimum, the good faith exception applies. Graves v. Commonwealth, 2026 Va. App. LEXIS 533 (Oct. 6, 2026).
The investigation of whether the place to be searched is one or two dwellings has to be reasonable, not perfect. Here, whether 308 and 310 were two dwellings didn’t even matter because the affidavit for warrant authorized a search of the entire premises. United States v. Wills, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 226270 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 2, 2026).*
Officers came to plaintiff’s home with a warrant for another person who was reasonably believed to be there. Plaintiff said the wanted person wasn’t there, but the officers came in anyway, and he wasn’t there. The officers get qualified immunity over the entry. Hyttinen v. Frantti, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 30279 (6th Cir. Sep. 30, 2026).*
Blue 42 operates a licensed hemp farm registered with state and federal agriculture departments. The Georgia DPS conducted drug suppression operation using low-flying aircraft, and they destroyed two rows of Blue 42’s crops valued at $37,000. Trial court dismissed inverse condemnation claim based on categorical police power exemption. The Georgia Supreme Court reversed. The state’s rationale would swallow the state’s just compensation clause because then everything would “police power.” No exigency here. Blue 42 Organics, LLC v. Ga. Dep’t of Pub. Safety, 2026 Ga. LEXIS 273 (Sep. 9, 2026).
Defendant is ordered detained on this child pornography offense. Aside from having a prior conviction for it, he knew he was under investigation here and he dumped electronic media in his toilet tank when police came to the door. United States v. Rivera-Maldonado, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 226176 (D.P.R. Sep. 20, 2026).*
In New York, defense counsel’s representation of the facts in the motion to suppress isn’t enough to raise a fact question for a hearing. People v. Banks, 2026 NY Slip Op 05652, 2026 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 5827 (4th Dept. Oct. 1, 2026).*
Posted inMotion to suppress, Open fields, Seizure|Comments Off on GA: Inverse condemnation suit stated claim v. state’s “police power” in drug interdiction
"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.
