Bailey v. United States, No. 11-770; U.S. Supreme Court; opinion by Kennedy, J.; concurrence by Scalia, J.; dissent by Breyer, J.; decided February 19, 2013. On certiorari to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
While police were preparing to execute a warrant to search a basement apartment for a handgun, detectives conducting surveillance in an unmarked car outside the apartment saw two men later identified as petitioner Chunon Bailey and Bryant Middleton leave the gated area above the apartment, get in a car, and drive away. The detectives waited for the men to leave and then followed the car approximately a mile before stopping it. They found keys during a patdown search of Bailey, who initially said that he resided in the apartment but later denied it when informed of the search. Both men were handcuffed and driven in a patrol car to the apartment, where the search team had already found a gun and illicit drugs. After arresting the men, police discovered that one of Bailey’s keys unlocked the apartment’s door.
