Opinion ID: 2994298
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Federal Wiretap Laws

Text: The defendants further contend that the tape recordings violated federal wiretap laws, and therefore must be excluded from trial based on 18 U.S.C. sec. 2515, which prohibits the evidentiary use of any illegally obtained tape recording. Two exceptions to sec. 2515 potentially apply. First, sec. 2511(2)(c) allows the use of tape recordings made by a participant to the conversation who was acting under color of law. 18 U.S.C. sec. 2511(2)(c). Second, sec. 2511(2)(d) allows the use of recordings made by participants in a conversation unless that party had a criminal or tortious purpose in making the recording. 18 U.S.C. sec. 2511(2)(d). Because we find that Whitacre acted under color of law, we do not need to reach the second possibility. The government asserts that Whitacre was acting as a cooperating witness, and therefore under color of law, from November 1992 through the end of the conspiracy. See Obron Atlantic Corp. v. Barr, 990 F.2d 861, 864 (6th Cir. 1993) (allowing use of tape recordings made by corporate executive in price-fixing investigation); United States v. Haimowitz, 725 F.2d 1561, 1582 (11th Cir. 1984) (holding that cooperating witness under direction of FBI was acting under color of law); United States v. Horton, 601 F.2d 319, 322 (7th Cir. 1979) (holding that tapes made by FBI informant were admissible under sec.2511(2) (c)- (d)); United States v. Craig, 573 F.2d 455, 476 (7th Cir. 1977) (holding that informant acted under color of law when FBI supervised recording). Andreas and Wilson counter that the FBI’s supervision of Whitacre was so lax as to strip him of this status. In Craig, we noted several factors in the government’s supervision of an informant that indicated the government directed the recording. 573 F.2d at 476. In that case, such factors included whether the government supervised every aspect of the recording, selected the conversations to be recorded, supplied and operated the equipment, and recovered the tapes and equipment after each session. Id. We did not suggest that these factors were necessary to a finding that the witness acted under color of law, only that they were sufficient. Id. Therefore, their absence in the instant case, while probative, is not dispositive. Defendants cite dicta in Thomas v. Pearl, 998 F.2d 447, 451 (7th Cir. 1993), for the proposition that because police officers who secretly taped conversations without a warrant or the approval of their superiors would not be acting under color of law, then a fortiori, a private citizen acting without a warrant or the approval of superiors cannot be. In Thomas, we were comparing the color of law provision from the wiretap statute with the way the term has been interpreted in cases arising under 42 U.S.C. sec. 1983. In civil rights cases, we have interpreted the term very broadly, equating it with state action. In Thomas, we held that such a broad reading of color of law in the wiretap statute would be nonsensical because it would permit every government employee to tape with impunity, regardless of their purpose. 998 F.2d at 451. We used the example of police officers acting in violation of the Fourth Amendment to make the point that government employment by itself does not mean acting under color of law for purposes of the wiretap statute. Id. Here, the government does not contend that Whitacre was acting under color of law because he was a government employee. Thomas, then, is of only marginal relevance. Rather, when assessing whether someone acted under color of law for the wiretap statute, the question is whether the witness was acting under the government’s direction when making the recording. See Craig, 573 F.2d at 476; see also Obron Atlantic, 990 F.2d at 864; Haimowitz, 725 F.2d at 1582; United States v. Shields, 675 F.2d 1152, 1156-57 (11th Cir. 1982); United States v. Tousant, 619 F.2d 810, 813 (9th Cir. 1980). No cases demand that the government’s supervision of its cooperating witnesses and informants need be flawless. In fact, the investigation in Obron Atlantic suffered many of the same defects as the ADM investigation. 990 F.2d at 863. The mole in Obron Atlantic used his own equipment, decided which calls to tape, failed to maintain a log of his recordings and sometimes held on to tapes for weeks or months before turning them over. Id. The court found that the witness’s continuous, albeit irregular, contact [with] DOJ attorneys, following their explicit request that he assist them in this very way and their instructions on how to conduct the calls, outweighs the lack of direct DOJ supervision over the recording process and [his] failure to comply with certain directives. Id. at 865. What we find essential is that the government requested or authorized the taping with the intent of using it in an investigation and that they monitored the progress of the covert surveillance activities. To be sure, the FBI’s supervision of Whitacre’s surreptitious taping activities will likely never make it into the textbooks. The defendants make use of the technical errors in the supervision to paint a picture of a rogue witness, completely out of control, acting alone, throwing away tapes and manipulating evidence with callous indifference. Many conversations between Whitacre and one or more conspirators that should have been recorded were not, and the FBI frequently did not file the necessary reports or provide explanations for these missed conversations. Many of the tapes Whitacre made were not collected as promptly as they should have been, and the catalogue of tapes given to and collected from Whitacre was not meticulously maintained. The FBI did not seem to follow its own internal guidelines on supervising taping activities, but this does not provide a basis for constitutional challenge. See United States v. Caceres, 440 U.S. 741, 752 (1979) (holding that a breach of administrative guidelines does not establish a constitutional violation automatically). Still, these technical deficiencies do not show Whitacre acting independently of the FBI. FBI agents requested Whitacre begin taping his co- conspirators, instructed him on what type of conversation to record, supplied him with taping equipment and tapes, instructed him on the proper use of the equipment and met with him regularly to discuss developments in the conspiracy and collect the tapes. When possible, the FBI itself monitored the conversations by setting up remotecontrolled video recorders to tape the face-to- face meetings of the conspirators and having FBI agents act as hotel staff to infiltrate the meetings. As in Craig, this evidence was sufficient to prove that Whitacre acted at the direction of the FBI in gathering the tapes, and therefore acted under color of law.