United States v. Perry, 16-6285

• Court: United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (6th Circuit)
• Citation: 864 F.3d 412
• Docket Number: No. 16-6285,16-6285
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee, v. Laquinton PERRY, Defendant–Appellant.
• Decision Date: 19 July 2017

864 F.3d 412

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff–Appellee,
v.
Laquinton PERRY, Defendant–Appellant.

No. 16-6285

United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit.

Decided and Filed: July 19, 2017

ON BRIEF: John Keith Perry, Jr., PERRY–GRIFFIN, P.C., Southaven, Mississippi, for Appellant. Lauren J. Delery, UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE, Memphis, Tennessee, for Appellee.

Before: ROGERS, COOK, and STRANCH, Circuit Judges.

OPINION

ROGERS, Circuit Judge.

Laquinton Perry, having conditionally pled guilty to conspiring to possess narcotics with intent to distribute, appeals the preserved evidentiary issue of whether a search warrant for Perry's apartment was supported by probable cause. Perry contends that the activities indicating drug sales that were observed over the seven weeks before the issuance of the search warrant were stale evidence because the activities were not individually dated. The observations, according to Perry, may have been too old to indicate that drug evidence would probably be found in the apartment, while at the same time not concentrated or old enough to indicate continuous or entrenched criminal activity. Even without specific dates, however, the amount of suspicious activity observed within the seven weeks in connection with Perry's apartment was enough to support probable cause in this case.

At the probable cause hearing in Tennessee state court, Lieutenant Jason Drewery of the Fayette County Sheriff's

864 F.3d 414

Department swore in an affidavit as follows:

• Around October 10, 2014, he received the first of several complaints from concerned citizens living in an apartment complex that there were drug sales being conducted in that apartment complex and in a black Chevrolet Impala;

• That first complaint named Perry and his girlfriend as the drug sellers;

• Lt. Drewery knew Perry to be a drug dealer and to have several prior drug charges;

• From October 15, 2014, to December 3, 2014, Lt. Drewery intermittently surveilled the apartment complex;

• During the surveillance, Lt. Drewery observed heavy car and foot traffic into apartment four in the complex, and the visitors would go into the apartment and leave within one to two minutes;

• Lt. Drewery further observed Perry exchange money and packages, which appeared to contain marijuana, at a chain link face on the other side of which is a parking lot;

• Lt. Drewery observed an unknown black man exit apartment four, remove from his right front pocket a clear plastic bag, remove from that bag a separate package of marijuana, conduct an exchange with someone in a nearby Ford Mustang, and then return to apartment four;

• Lt. Drewery also observed Perry walk out of apartment four and into a Ford Explorer in the apartment parking lot, exchange a package, and return to apartment four;

• Lt. Drewery routinely saw Perry and his girlfriend use the black Chevrolet Impala and enter apartment four with keys; and

• Lt. Drewery confirmed that the utilities to apartment four are paid in, and that the black Chevrolet Impala is registered in, Perry's girlfriend's name.

Based on that affidavit, the Tennessee magistrate issued a search warrant on December 5, 2014, two days after Lt. Drewery's surveillance ended. Lt. Drewery executed the warrant on December 9.

Because Lt. Drewery's affidavit detailed multiple transactions involving Perry and his girlfriend that appeared to be drug transactions, and...