⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The Tenth Circuit hears United States versus Schear. Wyoming investigators were watching Wade Schear in a drug investigation. In June 2024, they tracked a Volkswagen he drove to Colorado and back. After the car developed mechanical trouble, a deputy stopped it near Chugwater; a drug dog alerted, and the search found methamphetamine. Federal prosecutors later obtained a drug-trafficking conviction. This appeal challenges the vehicle search, focusing on the reliability of an informant and the government's warrant justification. You will hear references to Leon, the Supreme Court case about the good-faith exception to excluding evidence. The exception can allow evidence obtained in objectively reasonable reliance on a search warrant later found invalid. It does not excuse knowingly or recklessly misleading a judge, or reliance on a warrant obviously lacking support.

United States v. Schear (No. 25-8043) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, argued September 30, 2026.