Opinion ID: 203629
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Recording of statements made in the cruiser

Text: Finally, Dunbar argues that the incriminating statements he made in the back of the cruiser should be suppressed since Williamson violated 18 U.S.C. § 2511 when he recorded Dunbar's conversation with his wife without their knowledge. But this section only proscribes recording oral communications that are by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation. 18 U.S.C. § 2510(2). The legislative history of [this statutory provision] shows that Congress intended this definition to parallel the `reasonable expectation of privacy test' articulated by the Supreme Court in Katz.  United States v. Turner, 209 F.3d 1198, 1200 (10th Cir.2000) (citation omitted). For the reasons already expressed by our sister circuits, we hold that the back of a police car is not a place where individuals can reasonably expect to communicate in private. Id. at 1201 (Patrol cars bristle with electronics, including microphones to a dispatcher, possible video recording with audio pickup, and other electronic and recording devices. (footnote omitted)); United States v. Clark, 22 F.3d 799, 801-802 (8th Cir.1994) (noting that [a] marked police car is owned and operated by the state for the express purpose of ferreting out crime, is essentially the trooper's office, and is frequently used as a temporary jail and concluding that [t]he general public has no reason to frequent the back seat of a patrol car, or to believe that it is a sanctuary for private discussions); United States v. McKinnon, 985 F.2d 525, 528 (11th Cir.1993). Dunbar attempts to distinguish his case by virtue of the fact that he and Boisvert were married. While marital communications are privileged, the marital privilege protects only confidential communications. See United States v. Madoch, 149 F.3d 596, 602 (7th Cir.1998) (finding no privilege where a spouse's conversations with her imprisoned husband were recorded). Since the police car was not a reasonably confidential place to talk, Dunbar's statements to Boisvert were not protected. [1]