I have an issue regarding the recording of telephone calls made from jail. I am familiar with Richardson v. State but wonder if anyone has come across or handled a case involving the recording of the conversation and not just the numbers and time called. I anticipate the "no expectation of privacy" to apply not only to numbers dialed but also conversations.

Our phone system tells the inmate that the call is being recorded prior to the call connecting. Therefore, no reasonable expectation of privacy.

I think most jails post a sign by the phone stating that the conversation is being recorded. You might check with your jail to find out.

As of yet, there are no state court cases in Texas directly on the issue. But, the feds have addressed the issue over and over and keep saying there is no right to privacy, regardless whether you warn the defendant or not.

Check out United States v. Van Poyck, 77 F3d 285 (9th Cir. 1996). Even the liberal 9th Circuit says there is no right to privacy.

In using jail phone calls, beware the privileged calls:

Sept. 19, 2003, 9:44PM


Durst's calls to lawyer-friend won't be in trial


By KEVIN MORAN
Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle

GALVESTON -- Recorded telephone calls murder defendant Robert Durst made from a jail to a lifelong friend will remain secret because that friend is a lawyer, a judge ruled Friday.

Attorney-client privilege applies to the calls because Durst paid Stewart Altman for legal services while Durst was held in a Pennsylvania jail from which the calls were made, Galveston state District Judge Susan Criss said.

The ruling came after Criss and Durst defense attorneys reviewed portions of 36 hours of telephone calls that Durst made from the Northhampton County (Pa.) Prison in late 2001 and early 2002.

Still to be decided is whether conversations Durst had with his wife, Debrah Lee Charaton, a New York real estate broker, are privileged. That decision could come Monday, Criss said.

Criss said she had also listened to some conversations Durst had with his his sister, Wendy Krieger, and brother-in-law, Doug Krieger. She did not make a final ruling on those conversations but said she does not believe they are privileged communications.

The jail conversations still were being transcribed from CDs to paper by a team of court reporters Friday. But Criss said that work will not delay Durst's trial.

"We're going to start the trial on Monday afternoon," Criss told defense and prosecution attorneys.

Defense attorneys had asked for at least a week's delay in the trial's start after prosecutors revealed this week that dozens of phone calls Durst made while in the Pennsylvania jail had been recorded and prosecutors had copies sent to Galveston.

Transcriptions were not released, and Criss and the attorneys did not reveal the substance of any of the conversations.

Cautioning that she had not listened to all the conversations, Criss said she may not rule until well into the trial which, if any, calls will be admitted into evidence in the case.

Criss said calls she had reviewed and that might be admitted "were all in the nature of rebuttal testimony that I suspect would come into play should Mr. Durst testify."

Defense attorneys have not revealed whether Durst will take the stand to tell his version of how his 71-year-old neighbor, Morris Black, died on Sept. 28, 2001.

Defense attorney Dick DeGuerin downplayed the importance of the jail recordings.

"All this has to do with bickering among the family," DeGuerin said, referring to Durst and his wealthy relatives.

Durst, whose family owns skyscrapers around New York's Times Square and in other parts of Manhattan, has pleaded not guilty by reason of self-defense and accident.

While selecting a jury in the case, defense attorneys indicated they will claim that Black was in Durst's apartment illegally and that Black died from a gunshot after he attacked Durst.

Prosecutors maintain that Durst killed Black, then cut up his body and disposed of the parts in Galveston Bay.

I have several Federal cases I'll fax you if you want to give a fax number. We have a case being appealed that we used a tape in, but we haven't seen the brief yet. Should have a ruling from Eastland in the near future. We used a tape once in trial, once in a suppression hearing, and the Defense, after listening to tapes and reviewing the Case Law, pled a Murder and Aggravated Sexual Assault.

Hanna, do u know the citation on Richardson vs. State? We would also like to look into this. Thanks. Bill Neal

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