United States v. Laquinton Perry, 864 F.3d 412

Laquinton Perry was charged with conspiracy to possess narcotics with intent to distribute and challenged a search warrant for his apartment as lacking probable cause.
Lt. Jason Drewery swore an affidavit reporting neighbor complaints (first received ~Oct 10, 2014), knowledge of Perry’s prior drug charges, and surveillance from Oct 15 to Dec 3, 2014.
Surveillance described repeated heavy car/foot traffic to apartment 4, short visits (1–2 minutes), observed exchanges of money and packages (appearing to be marijuana) involving Perry and others, and regular use of a black Chevrolet Impala and keys to apartment 4 by Perry and his girlfriend.
The magistrate issued a search warrant on Dec 5, 2014; it was executed Dec 9, 2014. Perry preserved a challenge that the affidavit’s observations were stale because specific dates for transactions were not provided.
The district court and Sixth Circuit reviewed whether the affidavit’s time frame and repeated observations supplied a substantial basis for finding a fair probability that drugs would be found at the locations.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the affidavit supported probable cause for the search warrant	Perry: Observations were stale because transactions lacked specific dates and may have been too old or too sporadic to show ongoing activity	Government: Observations occurred within a defined period (Oct 15–Dec 3) and described repeated, continuous activity indicating an ongoing drug operation	Probable cause existed: the repeated, recent observations within seven weeks supported a fair probability that drugs would be found
Whether the district court relied on evidence outside the affidavit	Perry: District court considered testimony beyond the four corners of the affidavit	Government: District court limited its findings to the affidavit	Court found the district court explicitly limited reliance to the affidavit and disavowed extra-affidavit evidence

United States v. Frechette, 583 F.3d 374 (6th Cir.) (staleness doctrine and timing considerations for drug evidence)
United States v. Greene, 250 F.3d 471 (6th Cir.) (old incidents may not be stale when paired with more recent corroboration indicating ongoing activity)
United States v. Spikes, 158 F.3d 913 (6th Cir.) (protracted, continuous activity reduces significance of passage of time)
United States v. Johnson, 461 F.2d 285 (10th Cir.) (same principle regarding continuous course of conduct and staleness)
United States v. Brown, 732 F.3d 569 (6th Cir.) (deference to magistrate and totality-of-circumstances test for probable cause)
Sneed v. State, 423 S.W.2d 857 (Tenn.) (Tennessee constitutional search-and-seizure provision aligned with Fourth Amendment)