Court Opinion

ID: 9722647
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 09:43:14.615871+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:38.012188
License: Public Domain

CHIEF JUSTICE BILANDIC, dissenting: "The right to be let alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom.” (Public Utilities Comm’n v. Pollak (1952), 343 U.S. 451, 467, 96 L. Ed. 1068, 1080, 72 S. Ct. 813, 823 (Douglas, J., dissenting).) This sentiment was adopted by the drafters of the Illinois Constitution, which provides, "The people shall have the right to be secure in their persons, houses, papers and other possessions against unreasonable *** invasions of privacy or interceptions of communications by eavesdropping devices or other means.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 6.) The majority disregards this constitutional right to privacy. Additionally, the majority omits to inform an unwary citizenry of what I believe to be a logical conclusion to its flawed reasoning. The majority opinion should require that every telephone be labeled: "WARNING, your telephone conversation may be recorded without your knowledge or consent. Use at your own peril.” This warning should be required because the majority erroneously interprets the plain language of the Illinois eavesdropping statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 14 — 2(a)). Therefore, I respectfully dissent. The Illinois eavesdropping statuté provides that it is unlawful to record a conversation using an "eavesdropping device” without the "consent of all of the parties to such conversation.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 14 — 2(a).) A tape recorder is an eavesdropping device. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 14— 1(a).) Pursuant to the plain and clear language of the statute, the legislature has directed that all parties to a conversation must consent before recording a conversation. This requirement was not satisfied in the instant case since only the alleged victim and not the defendant consented to the recording of the conversation. In fact, the defendant was completely unaware that his conversation was being recorded by the police. Therefore, this recording constituted a clear violation of the Illinois eavesdropping statute. The majority opinion relies on People v. Beardsley (1986), 115 Ill. 2d 47, to circumvent the intention of the legislature as expressed in the language of the statute. In Beardsley, the defendant was placed in the rear seat of a police car after being stopped for speeding and refusing to produce his driver’s license. Prior to being placed in the police car, the police officers observed the defendant carrying a small tape recorder. While sitting in the rear seat of the police car, the defendant recorded the conversation of two police officers who were seated in the front seat of the car. In addressing whether the defendant violated the eavesdropping statute, the court stated that the eavesdropping statute is intended to protect individuals from the surreptitious monitoring of their conversations by the use of eavesdropping devices. (Beardsley, 115 Ill. 2d at 53.) According to the court, the eavesdropping statute is aimed at conduct which involves listening in secret to what is said in private. (Beardsley, 115 Ill. 2d at 58.) Applying this analysis to the facts in Beardsley, the court found that the defendant did not violate the eavesdropping statute. The court in Beardsley specifically noted that, by carrying on their conversation in the defendant’s presence, the officers could not have intended their conversation to be private. (Beardsley, 115 Ill. 2d at 55.) Moreover, the defendant in Beardsley did not surreptitiously record the officers’ conversation since the officers knew that the defendant had the tape recorder at the time they carried on their conversation. In view of all of these circumstances, the court in Beardsley in essence found that the officers gave their implied consent to the recording of their conversation by the defendant. The same reasoning cannot be applied to the facts in this case. The defendant here did not expressly or impliedly consent to the recording of his conversation with the alleged victim. The defendant was not aware of the police officers’ presence at the time he conversed with the alleged victim, nor did he know that they were recording his conversation. Instead, the defendant was under the assumption that his conversation with the alleged victim was private. Thus, the facts of this case, unlike those in Beardsley, demonstrate that the police recorded a conversation without the consent of all the parties to the conversation in violation of the eavesdropping statute. Despite the factual disparity between this case and Beardsley, the majority opinion nevertheless relies on Beardsley as support for its conclusion that the disputed recording did not violate the eavesdropping statute. Specifically, the majority relies upon a statement made in Beardsley that "our eavesdropping statute should not prohibit the recording of a conversation by a party to that conversation or one known by the parties thereto to be present.” (Emphasis omitted.) (Beardsley, 115 Ill. 2d at 56.) This statement, which suggests that the consent of one party to a conversation is sufficient under the eavesdropping statute, stands in direct conflict with the express language of the statute itself, which clearly requires the consent of all parties to a conversation before a recording is permissible. To the extent that Beardsley suggests that the consent of one but not all parties to a conversation is sufficient under the eavesdropping statute, that holding was wrong and should be repudiated. (See Beardsley, 115 Ill. 2d at 59 (Simon, J., specially concurring).) The majority opinion perpetuates this erroneous construction of the statute and holds that any party to a conversation may allow the police to make a secret recording of it. This holding is in direct conflict with the explicit language of the eavesdropping statute. I strenuously dissent from the majority’s failure to enforce the plain language of the eavesdropping statute. For the reasons stated, the police’s recording of the defendant’s conversation violated the Illinois eavesdropping statute. Since the police officers had no authority to record the conversation, the recording and transcripts of statements made by the defendant to the alleged victim during the conversation were properly suppressed. Accordingly, I dissent from the majority’s decision. JUSTICE McMORROW joins in this dissent.