State v. Fowler

139 P.3d 342
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 3, 2006
Docket77250-9
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 139 P.3d 342 (State v. Fowler) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Fowler, 139 P.3d 342 (Wash. 2006).

Opinion

139 P.3d 342 (2006)
157 Wash.2d 387

STATE of Washington, Respondent,
v.
Alexander Leonard FOWLER, Petitioner.

No. 77250-9.

Supreme Court of Washington, En Banc.

Argued March 21, 2006.
Decided August 3, 2006.

*343 Patricia Anne Pethick, Tacoma, Thomas Edward Doyle, Hansville, for Petitioner/Appellant.

James C. Powers, Thurston County Prosecutor's Office, Olympia, for Appellee/Respondent.

MADSEN, J.

¶ 1 Petitioner Alexander L. Fowler was convicted by a jury of two counts of incest in the first degree, two counts of incest in the second degree, and one count of rape in the second degree, all stemming from sexual misconduct with his stepdaughter. Fowler asserts that the trial court erred by admitting into evidence recordings of two telephone conversations he had with the victim. The conversations were recorded in Oregon with the consent of and by the victim acting at the request of the Oregon police when they investigated Fowler's possible sexual misconduct. Fowler was in Washington when he spoke on the phone to the victim, and he did not consent to the recordings; the victim was in Oregon at her family home.

¶ 2 Under Oregon law it is permissible for one party to consent to a recording of a telephone conversation. In Washington, unless an exception applies, it is generally unlawful to tape record a telephone conversation with only one party's consent under the privacy act, chapter 9.73 RCW. Generally, all parties must consent to a recording in Washington. Based on Washington's privacy act, Petitioner claims that the recordings of the conversations in Oregon were unlawful under RCW 9.73.030 and were therefore inadmissible in court under RCW 9.73.050. We hold that the recording of conversations in Oregon did not violate RCW 9.73.030 and were thus not barred from admission. Accordingly, we affirm petitioner's conviction.

FACTS

¶ 3 Fowler was convicted by a jury of four counts of incest and one count of rape resulting from his sexual misconduct with his stepdaughter, M.P., from 1997 to 2000 in Washington State.[1] Prior to trial, Fowler objected to the admission into evidence of two recorded telephone calls with M.P., and a suppression hearing was held. The trial court entered the following findings of fact. On September 16, 2002, the alleged victim, M.P., made a telephone call from Oregon to the defendant [Fowler] while the defendant was at a location within Washington State. Clerk's Papers (CP) at 70 (Findings of Fact (FF) 1). The alleged victim intentionally and voluntarily recorded the conversation that took place during this phone call without informing the defendant that the recording was being made. Id. On September 26, 2002, the alleged victim made a second call from Oregon to the defendant while the defendant *344 was at a location within Washington State. CP at 70 (FF 2). The alleged victim again intentionally and voluntarily recorded the conversation that occurred during this phone call without informing the defendant that the recording was being made. CP at 70-71 (FF 2).

¶ 4 Both telephone calls and the recording of those calls were made by the alleged victim at the request of Detective Mike Wilson of the Oregon State Police for purposes of Detective Wilson's investigation of an alleged sexual offense by the defendant against the victim, which was alleged to have occurred within the state of Oregon. CP at 71 (FF 3). The record does not reflect why Oregon prosecutors did not bring charges against Fowler.

¶ 5 No Washington State law enforcement officer or other Washington State official requested or in any way encouraged the making of these calls or the recording of these calls. CP at 71 (FF 4). At the time these calls were recorded, there was no investigation ongoing in Washington concerning any alleged offense by the defendant against the alleged victim. Id. In requesting the alleged victim to record these calls, Detective Wilson was following Oregon law, which provided that such a recording is lawful as long as one of the parties gives his or her consent to the recording. CP at 71 (FF 5).

¶ 6 Based on its findings of fact, the trial court made the following four conclusions of law. First, the trial court concluded that RCW 9.73.030[2] makes it unlawful to record a telephone conversation without the knowledge and consent of both parties to that conversation. CP at 71. Had the alleged victim's recording of her two calls to the defendant been made within the state of Washington, the trial court concluded, such recordings would have been illegal. Id. Second, the trial court held that because the alleged victim consented to the recordings of these two calls and made the recordings while in Oregon, these recordings were lawfully made under Oregon law pursuant to Oregon Revised Statutes § 165.540(1)(a). CP at 71; see also CP at 44 (Oregon statute). Third, the trial court concluded that the rule of law known as the "silver platter" doctrine is part of the law of the state of Washington and is applicable to the facts of this case. CP at 71. According to the trial court, the silver platter doctrine provides that when evidence results from law enforcement investigative practice in another jurisdiction where that investigative practice is legal, but the same investigative practice would be illegal under Washington law, the evidence is still admissible in a Washington court provided that the law enforcement officers in the other jurisdiction did not engage in the investigative practice as agents of a Washington law enforcement agency. Id. at 71-72. Finally, the trial court concluded that because the recordings by the alleged victim were made in Oregon, at the instigation of an Oregon law enforcement officer conducting a criminal investigation within Oregon concerning an offense alleged to have been committed in Oregon, and were made in full conformity with Oregon law, and because there was no request, instigation or involvement by a Washington law enforcement agency or other Washington official with regard to these recordings, the recordings are not rendered inadmissible at the trial of Fowler by *345 the provisions of RCW 9.73.030, and would not be suppressed on that basis. Id. at 72.

¶ 7 At trial, three people testified: M.P., M.P.'s mother, and Detective Wilson of the Oregon police. Fowler did not testify. The State also presented tapes of the two telephone conversations. The jury found Fowler guilty of all charges.

¶ 8 Fowler appealed, claiming that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the two tape-recorded conversations between him and M.P. Fowler argued that because the calls were recorded without his consent, the recordings violated his privacy rights under RCW 9.73.030(1) and were thus inadmissible under RCW 9.73.050.

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Bluebook (online)
139 P.3d 342, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-fowler-wash-2006.