Opinion ID: 359575
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Suppression of the Fruits of the Illegal Entry

Text: 55 Both the legislative history and the text of Title III also convincingly demonstrate Congress' intent that interception of conversations, by wiretapping or by bugging, which was not authorized by the legislation was illegal and that the fruits of such illegal interceptions must be excluded from evidence. Title III directs that (w)henever any wire or oral communication has been intercepted, no part of the contents of such communication and no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court . . . of the United States . . . if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this Chapter. (18 U.S.C. § 2515.) 56 As the Supreme Court explained in Gelbard v. United States, supra, 408 U.S. at 46, 92 S.Ct. at 2360: If a wire or oral communication is intercepted in accordance with the provisions of Title III, the contents of the communication may be disclosed and used under certain circumstances. 18 U.S.C. § 2517. Except as expressly authorized in Title III, however, all interceptions of wire and oral communications are flatly prohibited. . . . Title III also bars the use as evidence before official bodies of the contents and fruits of illegal interceptions, 18 U.S.C. § 2515, and provides procedures for moving to suppress such evidence in various proceedings, 18 U.S.C. § 2518(9)-(10). The officers' breaking and entry of Santora's office to implant the bug was unauthorized by Title III, and any and all conversations that were intercepted by the bugging operation and evidence derived from those interceptions should have been suppressed, in accordance with Title III. 57 Our conclusion that the evidence should be suppressed is based solely on statutory grounds. In reaching that conclusion, however, we are not unmindful that a contrary reading of the statute would raise serious Fourth Amendment questions. (Silverman v. United States, supra, 365 U.S. 505, 81 S.Ct. 679, 5 L.Ed.2d 734 Eavesdropping accomplished by means of such a physical intrusion is beyond the pale of even those decisions in which a closely divided Court has held that eavesdropping accomplished by other electronic means did not amount to an invasion of Fourth Amendment rights. (Id. at 509-10, 81 S.Ct. at 682.).) In Irvine v. California (1954) 347 U.S. 128, 74 S.Ct. 381, 98 L.Ed. 561, a pre-Mapp decision, the Court noted that state officers' entry of the petitioner's home without a search warrant for the purpose of planting a listening device would be almost incredible if it were not admitted. Few police measures have come to our attention that more flagrantly, deliberately, and persistently violated the fundamental principle declared by the Fourth Amendment . . . . (347 U.S. at 132, 74 S.Ct. at 383.) 11 58 Our examination of the entire record of this case, including all of the sealed reports of the Strike Force attorney to the district court, reveals that the Government's harvest of incriminating evidence from its break-in and bugging was very modest. Santora is the only appellant who has standing to challenge the use of this evidence. None of the other appellants had any interest in the premises broken into, nor were they parties to any conversation intercepted by the bug. 59 The bug picked up three conversations in which Santora made incriminating statements. While none of these conversations was admitted into evidence against Santora, they were used to obtain two additional interception orders: Order No. 4700, which authorized the tapping of five additional phones, and Order No. 4719, which extended the period of authorized surveillance of Santora's office. We are unable to separate the conversations obtained from the illegal bugging operation from evidence obtained pursuant to the legal wiretapping, both of which were relied upon to supply probable cause for these additional intercept orders. Therefore, the evidence secured against Santora by surveillance pursuant to Orders No. 4700 and 4719 should have been suppressed. Court Order No. 4676, which permitted tapping of a public phone outside of Santora's office, was obtained without any use of the fruits of the illegal bug. Thus, the conversations intercepted by this tap, together with the fruits of those interceptions, were admissible against Santora. 60 This does not mean that the untainted evidence may be inadequate to convict him. The record indicates that much of the Government's evidence against Santora was obtained by the initial, legal wiretapping of Santora's phones. However, we cannot from the record before us separate the untainted from the tainted evidence. The district court did not have occasion to do so because it upheld the legality of all of the interceptions. Accordingly, we vacate Santora's conviction and remand the case to the district court. On remand, the parties may reopen the stipulation upon which the conviction was founded, including the stipulated dismissal of other counts charged against Santora. Santora may renew his suppression motion based on the principles announced in this decision. All evidence against Santora that is the fruit of the illegal bugging or intercept Orders No. 4700 and 4719 (including the products of search warrants supported by such evidence) must be suppressed on remand. 61