Court Opinion

ID: 9571703
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:34:23.723937+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:30:49.488758
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, J.,
concurring.
I concur in the majority opinion and write to address some of the concerns expressed in the dissent.
The dissent acknowledges the defects in this order, yet concludes that the omissions are minor and, even if corrected, would further no privacy interests. The statute sets requirements for the contents of an order for interception. These requirements are comprehensive, explicit, and, in my opinion, well considered, and cannot be handily dismissed as “incantations.”
The statute requires each order to specify the identity of the person whose communications are to be intercepted, the location of the phone, and a “particular description of the type of communication sought to be intercepted and a statement of *291the particular crime to which it relates.” ORS 133.724(4)(a)-(c). It is with this provision that the state sought to comply in paragraph 3 of its order. The minimization language is a separate requirement found in ORS 133.724(5); it is a directive to the authorities who execute the wiretap that the privacy rights of telephone users must be protected throughout the intercept.
There are two statutory provisions concerning termination of a wiretap. One requires a statement whether the interception shall terminate automatically when the described communication is first obtained. The other compels termination “upon the attainment of the authorized objective.” ORS 133.724(5). The purpose of the first is to compel the state to disclose whether it seeks to intercept one conversation or multiple conversations. The intent of the second is to cut off the wiretap at the earliest possible time.
This order states that the intercept would not automatically terminate when the described communications are received and omits any standard for termination except the 15 day expiration. Not only does the order fail to indicate whether the wiretap could continue even after interception of the first pertinent conversation, the drafters’ inattention to statutory requirements resulted in an order which reads as though there were no limits on the wiretap except in number of days. Indeed, it was in this spirit that the wiretap was carried out. Even after they had gained sufficient evidence to arrest Tucker and Pottle the police continued the intercept; the officers came to Tucker’s house, informed her of Pottle’s impending arrest and then recorded her attempted call to Pottle in response. This last, an officer testified, was just “frosting on the cake.”
With regard to a mandate that the intercept be “executed as soon as practicable,” the order is deficient and the state has so conceded. As to Pottle’s participation, the district attorney testified that the investigation centered on Pottle and Tucker, that Pottle was a primary suspect, and that at the time the application was presented there was probable cause to believe he was involved in the crime. Pottle should have been named in the order.
I do not see this case as a reversal on legal technicalities. This order is flawed in a number of important *292respects. I agree with the majority that the deficiencies in this wiretap order render it fatally defective and evidence obtained pursuant to its authority must be suppressed.