Evidence – Admissibility in Federal Courts of Record of Telephone Conversation-Meaning of “Interception”

In a prosecution for perjury committed before a subcommittee of Congress, defendant filed a motion to suppress the record of a telephone conversation which had been made by the other party to the conversation without defendant’s knowledge or consent.

Held , motion granted. To record a telephone conversation in this manner is to intercept it within the meaning of section 605 of the Communications Act; under the Supreme Court’s ruling in Nardone v. United States, divulgence in court of a conversation so intercepted would be a violation of the Communications Act. United States v. Stephenson, (D.C. D.C. 1954) 121 F. Supp. 274.