Court Opinion

ID: 9709942
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 03:58:05.884847+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:52.897332
License: Public Domain

CONCURRING OPINION BY
STEVENS, J.:
¶ 1 Interpretation of the Wiretap Act, under the facts in the instant case, ignores the realities of technology and gives those who would deal drugs and engage in other nefarious acts a tremendous advantage over law enforcement.
¶ 2 Appellant Lanier was in the process of flying cross country to purchase 35 pounds of marijuana, and Michael Amodeo was in the process of driving to meet Lanier when he came into contact with Officer Richard Houck.
¶ 3 Officer Houck posed as Amodeo, using Amodeo’s cell phone, with the consent of Amodeo and through a series of text messages learned Lanier’s meeting point with Amodeo. After determining Lanier’s identity, the police officer arrested Lanier, and the police subsequently obtained a search warrant for the vehicle in which Lanier and the other appellant were found.
¶ 4 Clearly, the police were professional in the manner in which this case was investigated and arrests made. The police were not attempting to violate the rights of the suspected drug dealers but, rather, were carrying out their sworn duties to protect law-abiding citizens in a manner consistent with protecting and upholding rights.
¶ 5 Under the current law as to the Wiretap Act, an unrealistic burden is placed on law enforcement where the facts, as here, make it virtually impossible to comply with judicial interpretation of the Act. For example, drug dealers are in transit to complete their illegal transaction while instant text messages are going back and forth between the drug dealers. By the time the police go through the steps required under the Act to read an instant text message, with one of the perpetrator’s consent, the drug dealers go on their way, free and clear of any consequences to their criminal activity.
¶ 6 In posing as Amodeo with Amodeo’s consent, Officer Houck used proper police investigatory tactics to have Appellant La-nier disclose his meeting place. Requiring the police officer to somehow get hold of a prosecutor or find a judge to issue a warrant validating the consent before the officer may act on it is absurd under the circumstances. Time was of the essence here with drug dealers mobile and using text messages to quickly arrange a meeting place, make their illegal exchange and move on. Lanier was suspicious and ready to abort his criminal plan in an instant if need be to avoid arrest.
¶ 7 While one could argue that there was no “interception” or that there was no reasonable expectation of privacy on the part of Lanier in sending the message, the Majority reasoning is sound as to the current state of case law.
¶ 8 To protect law-abiding citizens and to give police officers some leeway in cases where the criminal element is using technology to carry out their crimes, the Legislature should re-examine the goals of the Wiretap Act and amend it accordingly. In a case such as here, where there is third party consent to read an incoming text message, a motion to suppress would be a procedural safeguard which balances the legitimate actions of law enforcement to *1184protect society with the privacy rights of the individual.1
¶ 9 Thus, I concur in the result but do not agree with the current state of the law as applied to cases such as this one.

. Indeed, there are cases where third party consent is given to law enforcement without any requirement of prior approval by a prosecutor or judge. For example, consent by a third party with apparent authority can justify a warrantless search of a person’s home without such prior approval. Clearly, there is a constitutionally-recognized right of privacy in a person's home, and this right may be vindicated through a pretrial motion to suppress asking the court to review whether consent was voluntarily given. Yet, the Wiretap Act’s additional requirement of prior approval restricts an officer’s ability to act on consent to such a degree as to represent a major impediment to legitimate, effective law enforcement. The Legislature did not envision such a result.