Opinion ID: 2257476
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Suppression of Taped Conversation

Text: We next turn to petitioner's assertion that the Circuit Court's denial of his motion to suppress the taped conversation was error. Section 10-402(c)(2) of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article provides, in pertinent part, as follows: [i]t is lawful under this subtitle for an investigative or law enforcement officer acting in a criminal investigation ... to intercept a wire, oral, or electronic communication in order to provide evidence of the commission of the offenses of ... child abuse ... where the person is a party to the communication or one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent to the interception. Md.Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. Art., § 10-402(c)(2) (2001 Supp.). It is undisputed that the victim and her mother consented to the electronic monitoring of the telephone call between petitioner and the victim. Petitioner contends that the officer knew or should have known that petitioner was not within the class of persons covered by the child abuse statute and, therefore, the taping was illegal under Maryland law and should have been suppressed. He concludes that the Circuit Court abused its discretion in finding that the officer, in good faith, believed he was investigating the crime of child abuse. Petitioner's primary argument is that the Circuit Court applied the wrong standard in assessing whether the officer was acting in a criminal investigation of child abuse and that the test is not whether the officer had a good faith belief that he was investigating child abuse, but rather whether the officer had a reasonable basis for his suspicion that petitioner had committed child abuse. The officer clearly had reasonable grounds to believe that petitioner had committed child abuse. [4] His recording was lawful and the motion to suppress properly was denied.