Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> Fourth Amendment

Criminal Law

: Fourth Amendment

NM: There was no reasonable expectation of privacy in jail calls, so admission in evidence did not violate constitution or any statute

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Admission of jail telephone calls while the defendant was in pretrial confinement was not a violation of the Fourth Amendment, the state constitution, of the state Abuse of Privacy Act. State v. Johnson, 2010 NMSC 16, 2010 N.M. LEXIS 113 (March 23, 2010).* Defendant was not restrained, and his actions showed her that she wasn’t. State v. Maxie, 2010 Ore. App. LEXIS 415 (April 21, 2010)*: After [Officer] Pontius had written down defendant's information, he closed his notebook and put it in his pocket, thanked defendant, and walked away. Pontius did not communicate to defendant his intention to make any use of the information, instruct her to remain while he ran a warrant check, or run the warrant check in her presence. Based on the totality of the circumstances, we conclude that Pontius's interaction with defendant was a mere conversation and did not impose a restraint on defendant's liberty or freedom of movement...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on April 24, 2010 (boomark / email).