The Missouri appeals court's Western District on Thursday dismissed a case three of its judges heard that morning.
The basic case involves Christopher Edwards, 21, of Henley, who was charged with 10 counts of receiving stolen property and one count of possession of a controlled substance - all in connection with thefts from vehicles in 2016.
The case never went to trial because Edwards' attorney - Dan Hunt, of Jefferson City - convinced Cole County Circuit Judge Pat Joyce evidence gathered under a search warrant should not be used in the trial, since the search warrant itself wasn't lawful and officers didn't have other probable cause to make the search.
That evidence included nine firearms that had been stolen from Cole County (5), Jefferson City (1) and Holts Summit (3).
Authorities said Edwards had stolen the guns, then sold them to people who could commit crimes with unregistered weapons.
Officials said numerous personal electronic items also were recovered during the search.
Cole County Assistant Prosecutor Scott Stacey had filed an appeal to Joyce's ruling blocking use of the recovered items, but hours before the case was to be heard Thursday morning by a three-judge appeals court panel - during a hearing at Westminster College in Fulton - Stacey filed a motion to dismiss the appeal.
During Joyce's hearing on Hunt's motion to suppress, Jefferson City Police Detective Jason Ambler testified, while interviewing Hakeem Vantreece at the Miller County Jail - while Vantreece was being held for possession of a stolen firearm - Vantreece said he had purchased the weapon from Edwards at Edwards' Cherry Street residence in Jefferson City.
However, Vantreece also advised Ambler that Edwards had been evicted from the Cherry Street residence and no longer lived there.
Vantreece gave Ambler the name of Edwards' girlfriend, and a database gave officials three addresses on Opel Lane in Henley.
Ambler also testified Vantreece, after the interview, voluntarily contacted Edwards via text message about stolen firearms, and Edwards said he had additional firearms for sale.
Edwards sent photos similar to other firearms reported as stolen in Cole County, Ambler said, as well as photos of a road intersection and street intersection signs, which were in the vicinity of the Opel Lane addresses for Edwards' girlfriend.
Ambler then submitted a search warrant application and included the three Henley addresses.
However, Hunt argued, the affidavit that went with the search warrant application never mentioned any properties on Opel Lane in Henley.
Although Ambler testified he believed stolen property was "still recoverable from the address and/or person(s) listed above" in the search warrant application, Hunt had countered the affidavit included no precise address.
During Thursday morning's appeals court hearing, Judge Gary Witt told Stacey there needed to be more specifics when issuing a search warrant, and Stacey agreed more research should have been done when the warrant was issued.
That afternoon, the case docket shows, the appeals court granted Stacey's motion to dismiss the appeal voluntarily.
The case now returns to Cole County Circuit Court and has been re-assigned to Judge Dan Green.
Green and the attorneys will determine whether it can move forward without using the evidence gathered under the now-unusable search warrant.