United States v. Antoine Gaither

── United States v. Antoine Gaither ── Court: Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit Date: April 28, 2026 Category: General NOT RECOMMENDED FOR PUBLICATION File Name: 26a0189n.06 No. 25-3361 FILED UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS Apr 28, 2026 FOR THE SIXTH CIRCUIT KELLY L. STEPHENS, Clerk ) ) UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, ON APPEAL FROM THE ) Plaintiff-Appellee, UNITED STATES DISTRICT ) COURT FOR THE ) v. NORTHERN DISTRICT OF ) OHIO ) ANTOINE GAITHER, ) Defendant-Appellant. ) OPINION ) ) Before: THAPAR, BUSH, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges. JOHN K. BUSH, Circuit Judge. Antoine Gaither appeals the denial of his motion to suppress. Because we agree with the district court that Deputy Danielski properly ordered Gaither out of his vehicle and then searched it based on probable cause, we AFFIRM. I. While out on patrol, Deputy Nicholas Danielski pulled over Gaither for failing to stop at a stop sign. Before exiting his patrol car, Deputy Danielski smelled the odor of burnt marijuana coming from Gaither’s car. Deputy Danielski approached the driver’s side door and informed Gaither that he had been pulled over for running a stop sign, and ordered Gaither out of the car. Gaither refused. Deputy Danielski told Gaither that he could “smell weed coming from the car,” and he ordered him out again. R. 33, Bodycam Video, at 2:50–55. Gaither again refused. This went on for some time with Deputy Danielski asking Gaither to step out of the vehicle and Gaither refusing. Finally, after No. 25-3361, United States v. Gaither almost seven minutes, Gaither gave in and stepped out of the car. Deputy Danielski arrested him for obstruction and performed a pat down to check Gaither for weapons. Deputies then moved Gaither to the back seat of Deputy Danielski’s patrol car. Deputy Danielski and other officers from the Sheriff’s Department searched the vehicle and found an open container of alcohol and a mason jar with two Ziploc bags of raw marijuana inside. After completing the search, Deputy Danielski informed Gaither that he would be charged with obstruction of official business, and he moved him from the back of his own patrol vehicle to a different patrol vehicle for transport. While moving him between vehicles, Deputy Danielski asked Gaither if he had anything else on him that they should know about. Gaither told the deputies to unzip his hoodie, and there they found a loaded handgun. Gaither was charged under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1) with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm. The handgun found under Gaither’s hoodie served as the basis for Count II. Gaither moved to suppress the handgun as the fruit of an unlawful search. The district court held an evidentiary hearing on the motion. As part of this process, the district court reviewed the footage fr