Opinion ID: 411137
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Suppression Of Tape Recordings

Text: 16 Prior to trial, Jones filed a motion to suppress the taped recordings of telephone conversations between the appellant and Ramona Palmer made during the period July 19 to July 22, 1981. The motion was denied. Appellant's objections were renewed at trial. The tapes were heard by the district court in camera and were admitted. 17 The recordings in question were made with the consent of Palmer, who was neither an accomplice nor a suspect in the case. After receiving an income tax refund for her 3-year-old son Albert Christopher and discovering that Jones was responsible for it, Palmer returned the check to the IRS and agreed to cooperate in the investigation by allowing a tape recorder to be placed on her telephone to record conversations with the appellant. 18 Appellant makes two arguments against admission of the tapes. The first, relying on Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201, 81 S.Ct. 1199, 12 L.Ed.2d 246 (1964), is that Jones's sixth amendment rights were violated by the admission of the evidence from the tapes. We note, however, that at the time the conversations were taped, no complaint had been filed against the appellant nor had she been either indicted or arrested. Thus, Massiah's prohibition against use of self-incriminating evidence gained through the use of a wire tap after a defendant has been indicated is inapposite to the instant case. 19 Secondly, appellant asserts that the first and last of the six tapes were inaudible and thus none of the tapes should have been admitted. Only the four audible tapes were introduced into evidence. Those tapes were clearly audible and were complete. As we have stated before, tapes which contain inaudible portions are nevertheless admissible unless the inaudible portions are so substantial as to render the recording as a whole untrustworthy. United States v. Nicoll, 664 F.2d 1308, 1314 (5th Cir.1982) (citations omitted); United States v. Greenfield, 574 F.2d 305, 307 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 860, 99 S.Ct. 178, 58 L.Ed.2d 168 (1978). Here the two inaudible tapes did not render the remaining recordings untrustworthy. 20 The tapes in question were relevant and established appellant's responsibility for the Albert Christopher check, the subject of the check uttering charge in count 12. The tapes were made with Ramona Palmer's consent, and there was no plausible evidence to suggest that the information from the tapes was the fruit of illegal wire tapping activity. 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2511(2)(c). 2 The tapes were thus properly admitted.