Court Opinion

ID: 9707351
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 02:09:28.007579+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:31.540138
License: Public Domain

McAULIFFE, Judge,
dissenting.
I agree that the question certified by the Court of Special Appeals involves interpretation of the Maryland Wiretap and Electronic Surveillance Act.1 I do not agree that the correct interpretation of the Act requires the exclusion of evidence lawfully obtained in a foreign jurisdiction.
Section 10-405 of the Act prohibits the admissibility of direct and derivative information “if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this subtitle.” Section 10-402(a)(2) makes it unlawful to disclose the contents of certain communications “knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained through the interception of a wire, oral, or electronic communication in violation of this subtitle.”
Accordingly, the proper inquiry in this case is whether the information was obtained through an interception that *77was “in violation of this subtitle.” Section 10-402 provides that all interceptions, other than those specifically spelled out in the Act as exceptions, are unlawful. The interception involved in this case was not within any of the enumerated exceptions. Therefore, the majority reasons that the interception must have been “in violation of” the Maryland Act.
I disagree. The interception with which we are concerned occurred in the District of Columbia. Section 10-401(3) provides that “ ‘[ijntercepf means the aural or other acquisition of the contents of any wire, electronic, or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.” Both parties agree that the interception, although it would not have been lawful if made in Maryland, was lawful when made in the District of Columbia. The Maryland Act defines unlawful acts of interception and disclosure in § 10-402(a). In § 10-402(b), the Act provides that “[a]ny person who violates subsection (a) of this section is guilty of a felony and is subject to imprisonment for not more than 5 years or a fine of not more than $10,000, or both.”
The Maryland Act, making certain interceptions felonies, does not reach the interception made in this case. Dilliner could not be convicted of the felony of intercepting this conversation. He did not, in short, violate the Maryland Act when he made an interception in the District of Columbia.2 The exclusion of evidence mandated by § 10-405 is limited to situations where the interception was “in violation of” the Maryland Act, and that is not the situation here.
I do not suggest that the General Assembly lacks authority to exclude evidence of this kind, at least when offered by the State. I am convinced, however, that it did not do so here. The exclusion mandated by the statute is limited to information obtained through interceptions in violation of *78the Act, i.e., interceptions for which one could be prosecuted under the Act. Exclusionary rules exact a heavy penalty. Reliable evidence, often essential to a successful prosecution, may be lost. Experience has taught us that in some instances the imposition of an exclusionary rule may be required to deter law enforcement officers from violating certain constitutional rights. Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 1692, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). Where, however, the goal of deterrence will not be advanced, exclusion may not be appropriate. United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 916-22, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 3417-20, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984).
Other state courts have held that evidence gathered by officers of a foreign state, and in accordance with the laws of that foreign state, is properly admitted in the forum state, although the complained-of action would violate the forum state’s eavesdropping statute. See People v. Barrow, 133 Ill.2d 226, 257-58, 139 Ill.Dec. 728, 741-42, 549 N.E.2d 240, 253-54 (1989), cert. denied, - U.S. -, 110 S.Ct. 3257, 111 L.Ed.2d 767 (1990) (evidence was not “obtained in violation” of Illinois law within meaning of Illinois exclusionary provision where evidence was validly intercepted in Maryland, even though interception would have been invalid if accomplished in Illinois); Commonwealth v. Bennett, 245 Pa.Super. 457, 460-62, 369 A.2d 493, 494-95 (1976) (information obtained from wiretap, valid where conducted in New Jersey but which would have been unlawful if conducted in Pennsylvania, is admissible in Pennsylvania prosecution—“any other conclusion would result in an unwarranted extension of the exclusionary rule”); State v. Mayes, 20 Wash.App. 184, 579 P.2d 999, 1004-05 (1978) (Washington statute prohibiting admissibility of information obtained from interceptions made “in violation of” the statute does not require exclusion of evidence obtained from interception made in California and valid under California law).
The interception in this case was entirely lawful when and where made. Exclusion of the evidence is not, therefore, *79needed to punish a violation of law or to deter others from similar conduct. The majority’s holding, it should be noted, would apply with equal force to a communication occurring entirely within the District of Columbia. The legislature fashioned an exclusionary rule applicable to all interceptions occurring within the State of Maryland. So interpreted, § 10-405 has a valid and understandable purpose. The majority unnecessarily extends the exclusionary rule to activities which would have constituted a violation of Maryland law if they had occurred here, rather than limiting the exclusion, as the legislature has done, to actions that do, in fact, violate the Maryland Act. In so doing, the majority enlarges the exclusionary rule beyond the apparent intent of the legislature, and beyond the ordinary purpose and function of an exclusionary rule of evidence.
I would instruct the Court of Special Appeals that the Maryland Act does not exclude evidence of the telephone conversation involved in this case.

. Sections 10-401 through 10-414 of the Courts and Judicial Proceedings Article, Maryland Code (1989 Repl.Vol.).

. I do not address the question of whether Maryland could impose criminal sanctions for the extra-territorial interception of conversations involving persons physically located within this State. The Maryland Act does not attempt to make this distinction.