Warrant Challenge in Drug Case Rejected by Divided Sixth Circuit

A Kentucky judge had sufficient information to issue a search warrant for a suspect’s apartment because the suspect returned to that apartment after selling drugs, a divided en banc Sixth Circuit ruled.

The “controlled buys"—where an informant bought drugs from defendant Antwone Sanders before Sanders drove back to the apartment in question—"cleared the modest probable cause bar” for issuing a warrant, Judge Chad A. Readlerwrote for the majority opinion.

The June 28 ruling comes after a three-judge US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit panel in 2023 found the warrant improper and vacated the drug and firearm ...