Federal Supervised Release
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal recently made a new ruling on the use of recorded telephone calls made by a non law enforcement agent. The case was based on a violation of supervised release by a federal defendant. The defendant was living with his girlfriend, who had some suspicious as to the defendants' relationship with his ex-wife. The girlfriend recorded the defendants' telephone calls and turned them over to his Federal Probation Officer. In the recordings, the defendant threatens to burn down the girlfriends home after she makes him leave. The district court allowed these telephone calls to be introduced as evidence during the defendants' violation hearing. The defendant objected to this evidence and was overruled by the District Judge. The defendant was sentenced to 24 months in prison.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeal held that, much like many other Circuits, there is a "Clean Hands" exception to the exclusionary rule. This falls under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2518. In other words the complain-taint cannot set the defendant up for the violation. The Appellate court held that the the introduction of this evidence was improper. It did not matter that the girlfriend was not acting as a government agent at the time. This is a rare opinion out of the Fourth Circuit. It is the correct decision. The federal appellate attorney for this case should be extremely happy with the result for this Circuit.
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