Constitutional Law - Search and Seizure - Permissibility of Surreptitious Entries to Install Electronic Eavesdropping Equipment under Title III
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Authors
Shelton, Roy E.
Issue Date
1980
Volume
13
Issue
Type
Journal Article
Language
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
INTRODUCTION|Congress enacted Title III of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act to regulate the interception of oral communications by setting forth strict requirements governing the issuance of a warrant authorizing electronic eavesdropping. Despite its meticulous detail, however, Title III failed to address the problems of how law enforcement officials were to install electronic listening devices on private premises without being detected. As a result of this statutory silence, many occasions have arisen where federal agents, with or without court authorization, have surreptitiously entered private premises to install eavesdropping devices. Defendants in criminal trials have frequently challenged the validity of these entries in a effort to secure the suppression of evidence obtained with listening devices. The challenges enjoyed limited success as the lower federal courts took diverse approaches to the analysis of covert entry. Covert entry to implant listening equipment raised three issues. At the threshold was whether the fourth amendment permitted even statutorily authorized warrants to secretly enter private premises. Additionally, the permissibility of covert entry under Title III and the necessity of express prior judicial authorization were at issue in the cases...
Description
Citation
13 Creighton L. Rev. 633 (1979-1980)
Publisher
Creighton University School of Law