Window tint violation should have taken 5-6 minutes, but it dragged out for 20 minutes while the drug dog was coming. The stop was overlong under Rodriguez and the motion to suppress should have been granted. United States v. Johnson, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 4254 (8th Cir. Feb. 12, 2026) (2-1; this was under submission 3¾ years; no person with same name in custody in BOP).
Officers had [plenty of] probable cause for defendant’s vehicle stop and search in an ongoing drug operation. United States v. Gregory, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28454 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 11, 2026).*
Defendant’s LPN was tracked on the Oklahoma Turnpike two days after his arrest. There’s no reasonable expectation of privacy in ALPR. He argued it was real time tracking, but it wasn’t. United States v. Schoggins, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28417 (E.D. Okla. Jan. 28, 2026).*
The USMJ said the evidence should be suppressed for an illegal entry that turned out to be clearly justified by the emergency exception. The District Court obliged. The government appealed and reversed. The exclusionary rule should not have been applied here. United States v. Leonard, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 4228 (5th Cir. Feb. 11, 2026).*
Defendant’s motion for return of seized cash comes after administrative forfeiture became final. Denied. United States v. Mims, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27957 (N.D. Iowa Feb. 11, 2026).*
Defendant didn’t seek resolution of his motion to suppress, so the trial court never got to rule. Waived for appeal. People v. Jones, 2026 NY Slip Op 00664 (4th Dept. Feb. 11, 2026).* (Sentence was seven years ago, January 2019.)
“Approaching the inquiry practically, as we are required to do, these circumstances create ‘a fair probability that evidence of a crime’ would be found in the residence. … Evans—a person with a known drug trafficking history—entered Cody’s home to get away from police and came out shortly thereafter covered in a white powder Kay recognized as drugs. As Cody concedes, Evans likely tampered with evidence inside the home, which is a felony. Officers therefore reasonably believed that evidence of Evans’s criminal activity was located in the residence.” State v. Cody, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 521 (1st Dist. Feb. 11, 2026).*
Shooting a protestor in the eye at point blank range with a “less than lethal” device that the officers are trained on and warned can actually be lethal was excessive force. No qualified immunity. Marks v. Bauer, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 4252 (8th Cir. Feb. 12, 2026).
Defendant’s stop for not signaling leaving a traffic circle justified the stop, and the CI’s information was reasonable suspicion to continue it. United States v. George, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27444 (D. Mont. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Defense counsel gets the CI’s information because of a showing of need, but not to the client under protective order. No need shown for client to know. United States v. George, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27444 (D. Mont. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Defendant had permission to drive a borrowed car for one day. Later, when he was stopped, he couldn’t show he still had permission, so he had no standing. United States v. George, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27444 (D. Mont. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Plaintiffs are attempting a class action against the TSA for seizing cash from them at screening points. This case is against an administrative regulation, and the district court lacked jurisdiction. Brown v. Transp. Sec. Admin., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28282 (W.D. Pa. Feb. 11, 2026). Airport screenings can result in cash seizures, even though it’s not illegal to travel with large sums of money:
The inventory here was found pretextual by the way the officer conducted it; e.g., not using gloves until something was found [which says nothing to me]. State v. Clark, 2026-Ohio-447, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 510 (4th Dist. Feb. 5, 2026).
Plaintiff was the subject of an administrative warrant issued by a neutral and detached magistrate. The complaint is dismissed. Waldrop v. Colo. Dep’t of Agric., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27532 (D. Colo. Feb. 10, 2026).*
The fact the officer involved in this search later had his own criminal problems isn’t shown to relate to this case at all. Lucas v. United States, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27569 (W.D.N.Y. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Defendant had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his IP provider’s information. State v. Hill, 347 Or. App. 18 (Feb. 11, 2026).*
The officer emailed to the magistrate the affidavit for warrant and he thought the warrant, too. The magistrate emailed back saying she found probable cause and authorized the search. A day or two later, the officer realized the warrant was never emailed. Thus, there was no warrant, and the search was suppressed. “Again, as the Supreme Court explained in Groh, a warrant is a critical safeguard of the right to be free from unreasonable government intrusion, a right secured to Oregonians by both Article I, section 9, and the Fourth Amendment. We would erode that critical constitutional safeguard by holding that a warrant that never existed could nevertheless operate as a valid warrant.” State v. Morin, 347 Or. App. 1 (Feb. 11, 2026).
Plaintiff was the subject of a search that led to his guilty plea and conviction. He can’t sue over that now. Gray v. Goddu, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27080 (D. Conn. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Posted inIssue preclusion, Warrant execution, Warrant papers|Comments Off on OR: Accidentally omitted warrant from email results in suppressing search despite finding of PC and particularity
Plaintiff was the subject of an administrative warrant issued by a neutral and detached magistrate. The request for prospective relief is denied, and the complaint is dismissed. Waldrop v. Colo. Dep’t of Agric., 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27532 (D. Colo. Feb. 10, 2026).
“[T]he Court concludes that Detective Jimmy Welsh made reckless omissions in his application for a search warrant, but even so, the warrant still would have been issued if the omissions were added back in.” United States v. McCullough, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26402 (W.D. Wash. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Plaintiff was the subject of a search that led to his guilty plea and conviction. He can’t sue over that now. Gray v. Goddu, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27080 (D. Conn. Feb. 10, 2026).*
There was probable cause for defendant’s arrest. He had similar tattoos as shown on the suspect in the surveillance videos. United States v. Trujillo, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27091 (D.N.M. Feb. 10, 2026).*
Defendant’s stop for an inactive LPN was reasonable. The stop, however, was overlong and quickly turned into a drug investigation. There was also a warrant on the passenger. Defendant consented to it, and she was told she could refuse. United States v. Ditonno, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27422 (D. Mont. Feb. 10, 2026)*:
Defendant had no standing to challenge the state’s use of a rental car’s GPS where another person rented the car. It was also private action. United States v. Busby, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27276 (W.D. Tenn. Feb. 10, 2026).
This white collar fraud case showed probable cause for the document warrant, it was particular enough, and it was good enough for the good faith exception. United States v. Liburdi, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26769 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 10, 2026).*
The fact plaintiff was seen naked in prison doesn’t state a claim. Hill v. Chester Cty. Prison, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26777 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Nexus was shown for defendant’s car and house because he left the house in the car to do a drug deal. United States v. Swann, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26855 (N.D. Iowa Feb. 10, 2026).*
Did defendant violate the turn signal ordinance by not signaling his turn until already stopped? It doesn’t matter. “Ultimately, though, we need not decide whether Bryant actually violated the turn-signal ordinance. Even if the answer is unclear, Officer Singleton’s stop was justified so long as he had reasonable suspicion that a violation had occurred. And he did. An officer need not be right about a traffic violation to conduct a lawful stop—he need only be reasonable. A reasonable mistake of law can still constitute reasonable, articulable suspicion to justify a traffic stop.” State v. Bryant, 2026-Ohio-389 (12th Dist. Feb. 9, 2026). Similar is United States v. Schoggins, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26841 (E.D. Okla. Feb. 10, 2026).
The trial court granted a motion to suppress. It was pointless to have a Franks hearing after that, so that’s not an error for appeal. Weber v. State, 2026 Tex. App. LEXIS 1212 (Tex. App. – Dallas Feb. 9, 2026).*
The misstatements aren’t material to the probable cause finding. United States v. Fassero, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26414 (C.D. Ill. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Posted inFranks doctrine, Reasonableness|Comments Off on OH12: Officer’s reasonable mistake on traffic violation didn’t void stop
Temporary immobility of a car doesn’t prevent the automobile exception from applying. (This is after a remand for a probable cause finding. The court also discusses the good faith exception and the court must guard against the exception swallowing the exclusionary rule.) State v. Julius, 2026 N.C. App. LEXIS 86 (Feb. 4, 2026) (2-1).
The court of appeals cursorily finds the stop valid and then a consent to a dog sniff and then search. State v. Thompson, 2026-Ohio-398 (11th Dist. Feb. 9, 2026).*
There was probable cause for plaintiff’s arrest for alleged crimes he wasn’t convicted of, so he doesn’t state a claim. Hughes v. District of Columbia, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26586 (D.D.C. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Religion News Service: Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof by Jack Jenkins & Aleja Hertzler-McCain (“‘I’ve had some priests who are of a different color being targeted and arrested — stopped — because of their color and asking them to prove that they’re citizens. That’s not America,’ the Chicago cardinal said.”)
Posted inimmigration stops|Comments Off on Kavanaugh stops: Religion News Service: Cardinal Cupich says feds stopped priests, demanded citizenship proof
Defendant’s motion to suppress alleged the impropriety of the stop. At the suppression hearing, however, the defense expanded it to include a lack of probable cause for a car search. The state was not on notice by the motion, and the suppression order is reversed. State v. Henderson, 2026-Ohio-380, 2026 Ohio App. LEXIS 441 (1st Dist. Feb. 6, 2026).
Reasonable suspicion isn’t needed for x-raying luggage at the border. “Nor did the officers need reasonable suspicion before cutting the luggage. The Court agrees with the Magistrate Judge that once the officers found anomalies in between the linings of the suitcases and the x-rays indicated that there were objects in those areas, the officers had sufficient suspicion to cut open the bags.” United States v. Browne, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25858 (N.D. Ga. Feb. 6, 2026),* R&R 2025 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 273782 (N.D. Ga. Dec. 31, 2025).*
Defendant was on a Polish flagged sailboat 150 miles north of Colombia when it was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard. The Fourth Amendment doesn’t apply to non-U.S. citizens outside of the U.S. United States v. Ballesteros, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25840 (M.D. Fla. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Posted inBorder search, Foreign searches, Waiver|Comments Off on OH6: Motion to suppress alleged stop was invalid, but at hearing def switched to lack of PC for search, and that’s waived by lack of notice to state
The search warrant for defendant’s cell phone authorized both seizure and search of the phone, and the trial court was clearly erroneous in concluding that it did not permit a search, too. (The officer admitted working off a template cell phone warrant application and warrant, not that it mattered.) State v. Blakely, 2026 Ala. Crim. App. LEXIS 4 (Feb. 6, 2026).
“The Government in this case has made a strong showing demonstrating the reliability of the CS’s information. Not only was the information provided by the CS about Swift’s physical appearance, Swift’s business, and the vehicle Swift drives-all of which was independently corroborated by the officers-there was also physical surveillance, audio surveillance, and most importantly multiple controlled buys.” [Aren’t the buys enough?] United States v. Swift, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 26116 (N.D. Ind. Feb. 9, 2026).*
Under Minnesota law, petitioner had no right to intervene in a criminal case for access to bodycams that had nothing to do with him. They were in the digital system for a motion to suppress and later became unnecessary. Hardin v. State, 2026 Minn. App. LEXIS 55 (Jan. 28, 2026).*
Salon: AI is automating injustice in American policing by Nicholas Liu (“AI has raised deep concerns about police power and the erosion of rights, finding scapegoats instead of solutions.”):
In executing a sex trafficking warrant in the wintertime (Detroit, 1/14/25), the minor victim they’d pinged for her whereabouts was handcuffed and left outside for a while. It was never apparent until inside the third floor was someone’s separate residence. The warrant was validly executed, but the alleged sex trafficking victim was mistreated by taking outside without adequate clothing. [According to Weather Underground, the high that day was 21º and the low 14º.] United States v. Phillips, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25679 n.5 (E.D. Mich. Feb. 8, 2026):
Military officers working the gate at Fort Bragg had reasonable suspicion defendant was driving under the influence when he was stopped for random inspection before entry into the base. It ripened to probable cause. United States v. Lock, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25560 (E.D.N.C. Feb. 5, 2026).
Plaintiff’s Fourth Amendment claim arose in 2018, and Colorado law gives two years. He waited until 2024 to file the claim. Dismissed. Deleon v. Linnemeyer, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25656 (D. Colo. Feb. 6, 2026).*
The tip said defendant claimed to have 100 guns. When his house was searched, five were found. That led to a fair inference the others were in his storage unit. (As to one of the challenged searches, when no evidence is seized in a particular search, there is nothing to suppress.) United States v. Payne, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25654 (D. Colo. Feb. 6, 2026).*
Defendant was under state supervision. Officers conducted a residence check and opened the oven finding three firearms. That search was reasonable. United States v. Hoang, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24056 (M.D. La. Feb. 5, 2026).
Defendant was found sleeping in a car, and the officer saw a firearm. He asked for defendant’s ID before returning the gun, and this was reasonable for safety’s sake. United States v. Rivers, 2026 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24121 (E.D. Mo. Jan. 6, 2026).*
Defendant was arrested for drugs and taken to jail. A search warrant was prepared, and defendant bailed out and got back in time to be there for the search. There was probable cause for the warrant. State v. Smith, 2026-Ohio-359 (7th Dist. Feb. 4, 2026).*
"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]
“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)
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.
