Court Opinion

ID: 9585223
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 22:57:45.480307+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:36:03.238139
License: Public Domain

Hill, Justice,
dissenting.
Code § 26-3001 provides in subpart (a) that "It shall be unlawful for: (a) any person in a clandestine manner to intentionally overhear, transmit, or record, or attempt to overhear, transmit, or record the private conversation of another which shall originate in any private place...” The three types of conduct referred to are "overhear, transmit *503or record.” The majority reason that because a party to a conversation cannot "overhear” it in a clandestine manner, it follows that Code § 26-3001, subparts (b) through (f), and Code §§ 26-3002 through 26-3010 do not apply to a person who is a party to the conversation. The majority let a single word, "overhear,” control the construction of the entire chapter of the Code. Generally the intention of the legislature is to be gathered from the statute as a whole, rather than from a single word.
A person can intentionally "record” in a clandestine manner a private conversation to which that person is a party. This is particularly so as to a telephone conversation. The General Assembly’s intent to prohibit the clandestine recording of a telephone conversation by a party to that conversation is confirmed as being correct by Code § 26-3006 which provides: "Nothing in section 26-3001 shall prohibit the . . . recording ... of a message sent by telephone... when the sender and receiver thereof shall expressly or impliedly consent thereto or in those instances wherein the message shall be initiated or instigated by a person and the message shall constitute the commission of a crime or is directly in the furtherance of a crime, provided at least one party thereto shall consent.” By their "one word controls everything” construction, the majority render meaningless the provisions of Code § 26-3006 insofar as the parties to the conversation are concerned.
I am authorized to state that Chief Justice Nichols joins in this dissent.