Attorney-client calls from jail recorded

From the San Diego Union-Tribune:

The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department unplugged a system this week that records all phone calls from jail inmates after outraged defense lawyers realized their conversations with clients also were being recorded.

A lawyer for the Sheriff’s Department said the recordings, which defense lawyers say are privileged conversations protected by law, were made because of an inadvertent glitch in the telephone system.

But defense lawyers said the eavesdropping is a felony under state law and can carry penalties of up to $5,000 per call.

They are also concerned that prosecutors – who have access to the recording system from their desktop computers – could have been privy to conversations, too.

In at least one case, a defense attorney filed a motion this week seeking to get the District Attorney’s Office removed from his case.

Jim McMahon, a lawyer with the county Alternate Public Defender, said he found out that his calls with client Robert Crouse were recorded when he heard them on a disc provided by prosecutors. It was in a package of materials that all prosecutors are required to turn over before trial.

Prosecutors planned to use some of the phone conversations Crouse had with friends and associates during the case, McMahon said.

“So imagine my surprise,” he said. “I’m listening to the phone calls and up comes one with my voice, talking one-on-one with my client about trial strategy.”

McMahon said he did not know if prosecutors listened to any of the recordings, adding that the mere fact that they had them was bad enough. “I’m not at all comfortable with the DA being supplied with confidential, privileged phone calls with my client,” he said.

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