State v. News-Press Pub. Co.

338 So. 2d 1313, 2 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1240
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 5, 1976
Docket75-1815
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 338 So. 2d 1313 (State v. News-Press Pub. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. News-Press Pub. Co., 338 So. 2d 1313, 2 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1240 (Fla. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

338 So.2d 1313 (1976)

STATE of Florida, Appellant,
v.
NEWS-PRESS PUBLISHING COMPANY, a/k/a Fort Myers News-Press, a Gannett Newspaper, Appellee.

No. 75-1815.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

November 5, 1976.
Rehearing Denied December 1, 1976.

*1314 Joseph P. D'Alessandro, State Atty., Louis S. St. Laurent, Chief Asst. State Atty., and James R. Thompson, Asst. State Atty., Fort Myers, for appellant.

Theodore Klein, Fine, Jacobson, Block, Goldberg & Semet, P.A., and Dan Paul, Paul & Thomson, Miami, for appellee.

GRIMES, Judge.

The state appeals an order dismissing an indictment charging the Fort Myers News-Press with tampering with physical evidence by destroying certain tape recordings of conversations for the purpose of impairing their availability in an investigation into the death of James O'Neill by the Lee County Sheriff's Department. The statute which the News-Press was charged with violating reads as follows:

"918.13 Tampering with or fabricating physical evidence. —
(1) No person, knowing that a criminal trial or proceeding or an investigation by a duly constituted prosecuting authority, law enforcement agency, grand jury or legislative committee of this state is pending or is about to be instituted, shall:
(a) Alter, destroy, conceal, or remove any record, document, or thing with the purpose to impair its verity or availability in such proceeding or investigation; or * * *"

The News-Press filed a sworn motion to dismiss pursuant to Fla.R.Cr.P. 3.190(c)(4) setting forth essentially the following facts:

Fran Williams was employed as a newspaper reporter by the Fort Myers News-Press at all times pertinent to the indictment. On October 8, 1974, she testified under subpoena before the State Attorney's office. She was advised by the State Attorney that her testimony was being compelled in exchange for her being granted immunity from the prosecution for the matter and/or transaction about which her testimony was being compelled. Ms. Williams testified that she first became aware of the homicide involving James O'Neill on September 28, 1974. On October 1, she received a telephone call from Margie Johnson who had been living at O'Neill's house prior to his death. Ms. Williams tape recorded this telephone conversation. Ms. Johnson was *1315 not aware that the conversation was being taped and did not give her permission for it to be taped. Ms. Williams asserted that she used the tape recording solely for the purpose of assisting her in writing her news story and then erased it according to the newspaper's policy to erase and reuse tapes.
Two days later, Ms. Williams picked up Ms. Johnson's daughter, Lori Sievert, and drove her to Punta Gorda where they met Ms. Johnson. Ms. Sievert told Ms. Williams that she wanted to talk with Ms. Johnson alone for a few minutes. Thereupon, Ms. Williams stepped out of the car, but unknown to Johnson and Sievert turned on a tape recorder which she had left in the car. The conversation of Johnson and Sievert was tape recorded without the knowledge and permission of either of them. Ms. Williams said that after returning to the newspaper office and writing her story, she also erased this tape.

The state filed a sworn demurrer and traverse to the foregoing motion to dismiss. Following a hearing, the court entered an order dismissing the indictment. First, the court reasoned that the News-Press could not have been guilty of destroying evidence, because the tape recordings were illegal intercepts which were inadmissible in evidence in any proceeding under Section 934.06, Florida Statutes (1973). The court further held that the traverse filed by the state was legally insufficient to deny the truth of any of the facts stated in the defendant's motion and that these facts, thereby undisputed, did not establish a prima facie case of guilt.

We will consider in turn the two bases for the court's order. At the outset, we note the anomalous situation in which the state contends that at least one of the intercepts was not illegal, whereas the defendant contends that both of them were illegal. Both parties agree that the tape recording of the conversation between Ms. Sievert and Ms. Johnson made without their knowledge and permission while Ms. Williams was out of the car was illegal under Chapter 934, Florida Statutes. However, the state argues that the tape recording of the telephone conversation between Ms. Williams and Ms. Sievert was not illegal because there could not be an intercept of a conversation where one of the parties to the conversation is causing it to be recorded. The following statutory definitions are pertinent to this discussion:

"934.02 Definitions. — As used in this chapter:
* * * * * *
(2) `Oral communication' means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation and does not mean any public oral communication uttered at a public meeting;
(3) `Intercept' means the aural acquisition of the contents of any wire or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device; * * *"

The Florida Security of Communications Act was patterned after Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 1968, 18 U.S.C. § 2510, etc. When first enacted, the Florida act, like its federal counterpart, also contained the following provision:

"It is not unlawful under this chapter for a person not acting under color of law to intercept a wire or oral communication when such person is a party to the communication or when one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to such interception unless such communication is intercepted for the purpose of committing any criminal act." Section 934.03(2)(d).

Federal court decisions have interpreted this provision to mean that if one of the parties to a conversation is engaged in recording it, there is no illegal intercept. United States v. Turk, 526 F.2d 654 (5th Cir.1976); Smith v. Wunker, 356 F. Supp. 44 (S.D.Ohio 1972). However, effective October 1, 1974 (the very day on which Ms. Williams made the first tape recording), *1316 Section 934.03(2)(d), Florida Statutes, was amended to read:

"It is lawful under this chapter for a person to intercept a wire or oral communication when all of the parties to the communication have given prior consent to such interception."

The federal act has not been so amended. The fact that the provision permitting an intercept with the consent of one of the parties was changed in favor of a provision specifying that the consent of both parties is required strongly implies that the legislature intended to allow each party to a conversation to have an expectation of privacy from interception by the other party. This conclusion is fortified by the fact that at the same time Section 934.03(2)(d) was amended, the words "and does not mean any public oral communication uttered at a public meeting," were added to the definition of "oral communication" in Section 934.02(2).

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Bluebook (online)
338 So. 2d 1313, 2 Media L. Rep. (BNA) 1240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-news-press-pub-co-fladistctapp-1976.