Opinion ID: 349660
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Intergovernmental Use of the Tobin Tape

Text: 61 In her argument that the Fourth Amendment prohibits interagency or intergovernmental use of evidence originally seized in a constitutionally valid manner, appellant relies primarily on our decision in Bubis v. United States, 384 F.2d 643 (9th Cir. 1967). That case, however, is poor authority for her novel argument. There, the telephone company suspected that Bubis was using a multi-frequency signal generator to circumvent the company's automatic record-keeping equipment and thereby avoid long-distance charges. As part of its investigation, the company connected monitoring equipment to his telephone line. During the first few days of the monitoring, the company learned that Bubis was indeed using a frequency generator; it also overheard conversations that sounded like gambling. The monitoring continued for over three months, after which time the company reported its suspicions regarding the gambling operations to the federal government. A grand jury subpoenaed the tape recordings and indicted. On the basis of the recordings, Bubis was convicted of federal gambling offenses. Relying solely on our construction of the applicable federal statute, we reversed, holding that the telephone company's interception was broader than necessary. Regarding the telephone company's disclosure of Bubis' conversations to the federal government, we stated in dictum that the statute also prohibited that. Id. at 648 n.5. 62 In our view, Bubis has no bearing on our resolution of appellant's Fourth Amendment challenge to intergovernmental use of the Tobin tape. First, the holding in Bubis was that the interception was invalid because the telephone company extended its intrusion too long; any statement concerning the lawfulness of disclosure following a lawful interception was gratuitous and unnecessary to the decision. Second, our decision involved no constitutional analysis; it simply interpreted and applied a statutory provision governing the communications industry. 63 No independent reason appears why the Fourth Amendment should be construed to prohibit the intergovernmental exchange of the Tobin tape that occurred here. We decline to mutate the prohibitions of the Fourth Amendment, which deal with government-instigated searches and seizures, into a code of regulations governing interagency transfer of evidence legitimately in government control. But cf. United States v. Birrell, 470 F.2d 113 (2d Cir. 1972). Here, we have already held that the appellant-Tobin conversation was seized in a manner not inconsistent with the Fourth Amendment. Accordingly, we reject appellant's argument that the transfer of the Tobin tape was constitutionally impermissible. 12