Court Opinion

ID: 9884524
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-10-06 03:00:31.827052+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:48:39.154787
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Schaefer, concurring in the result: This case involves the construction of a statute which creates a crime; not a statute whose sole or primary purpose is to govern the admissibility of evidence. What the statute says is: “A person commits eavesdropping when he: (a) Uses an eavesdropping device to hear or record all or any part of an oral conversation without the consent of any party thereto; * * The crime of eavesdropping may be punished by imprisonment in a penal institution for as much as one year, by'a fine of as much as $1000 or by both imprisonment and fine. The statute also provides that “Any evidence obtained in violation of this Article is not admissible in any civil or criminal trial, or in any administrative or legislative inquiry or proceeding, nor in any grand jury proceedings.” The only exception to this flat rule of inadmissibility is that evidence of “an alleged unlawfully intercepted, overheard or recorded conversation * * * may be admitted into evidence in any criminal trial or grand jury proceeding brought against any person charged with violating any provision of this Article.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, chap. 38, par. 14 — 5. These provisions render evidence inadmissible only when a crime has been committed in obtaining it, and the offense of eavesdropping is either committed or not at the moment that the recording of the conversation takes place. The issue in this case, therefore, is whether a person records a conversation “without the consent of any party thereto” when he records a conversation to which he is a party without the consent of the other participants. The evidence in question is inadmissible only if the statute which makes it a crime to record a conversation without the consent of any party thereto is to be read to make it a crime to record a conversation without the consent of all parties thereto. I would not so read the statute. If the statute requires consent of all parties to a conversation, a businessman who, in the interest of preserving an accurate record, has his secretary listen in on an extension phone and take down the exact words used, commits a crime unless all other parties to the conversation consented to its recording in this fashion. Such a reading of the statute would be contrary to the recognized definition of eavesdropping: “eavesdrop, v.i. to stand under the eaves, or near the windows of a house in order to overhear what is said within doors; hence, to listen secretly to the private conversation of others.” Webster’s New International Dictionary, 2d ed. The majority opinion states: “It is apparent that the Committee which drafted these provisions was opposed to eavesdropping as an unwarranted invasion of the privacy of individuals,” and the majority’s interpretation of the statute rests upon “this expression of legislative intent.” But the Committee to which the majority refers did not draft these provisions, and it specifically refrained from expressing any opinion as to their merit. The Committee Comment to the eavesdropping sections states: “By retaining, in this Code, the former legislation in substantially the same form, the Committee specifically refrained from endorsing it as desirable or practicable.” (S.R.A., chap. 38, art. 14, Committee Comments) Moreover, it is not clear that prohibiting a person from recording his own conversations furthers any substantial interest in privacy. He remains free to testify to the conversation. Suppressing the recorded version means only that the accuracy of his recollection can be more readily disputed.