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Wiretap, Slang Evidence Admissible in Drug Case

By Shari Allison

U.S. v. Verdin-Garcia, --- F.3d ----, 2008 WL 435495 (10th Cir. Feb. 19, 2008)Defendants convicted of marijuana and methamphetamine trafficking conspiracies and related counts. - The DEA investigation relied heavily on gathering information on the structure and operations of the conspiracy from wiretaps (obtained with warrants). The 10th finds that the government made a sufficient showing of necessity under the wiretap statute?that it showed that traditional investigative techniques would not be sufficient. Read the opinion for a fairly careful dissection of what are some of the challenges that can be made to affidavits in support of a wiretap warrant. - Voice exemplars of Defendants taken from jail phone calls (to compare with wiretap intercepts) complied with statute: Defendants were warned at jail that calls could be monitored or recorded, and Defendants use of phones amounted to a consent to have them recorded...continue to full post

Full post as published by Tenth Circuit Blog on February 22, 2008 (boomark / email).