Tennessee "eavesdropping" law does not require permission before making your own audio recordings of other persons (including police), or recording your own telephone conversations. Lawyers advise to always recording all conversations with police, and to exercise your constitutional right to STFU.
It's usually impossible to win in court without making some type of official audio recording or written verbatum record. It's 100% impossible to win on appeal without a written record or audio recording. So this is one of the first battles that must be won against prosecutors and judges who have much to hide and money to steal.
In Tennessee, a party or attorney is supposed to have the right to make an audio recording for personal use in any case, not for rebroadcast. Under TN Rules of Civil Procedure and TN Rules of Criminal Procedure, a written motion probably must be made, and a written or verbal order of approval probably must be made, before for making an audio recording of a court proceeding by a party to the case. News media must make a media request motion and get a written order of approval before videotaping for broadcast. However, newspaper reporters are not required to ask permission to record audio in court, when not for rebroadcast, per TN Supreme Court Rule 30. Court reporters usually make audio recordings, which are private work product that supposedly cannot be released to a party. After losing in a court hearing, a party is supposed to have an option of purchasing an audio recording of the hearing to use on appeal, if they don't want to pay a court reporter for a printed transcript. It's best to always make your own hidden audio recording in court, without asking permission, as a back up to CYA.
Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure supposedly ban all audio recordings in federal courts, except by court reporters (which are private work product that supposedly cannot be released to a party). News media are allowed to make audio recordings in a few of the federal districts, after written motion.
Federal judges, prosecutors, police and politicians especially have much to hide, to prevent Revolution, which is why recording is effectively banned in fed courts, and security guards seize all recording devices before entering a fed court house. If We The Sheeple ever discover that real court is the opposite of what's seen on TeeVee, then millions of govt employees are going to have a Very Bad Day. Hence these draconian laws against recording govt employees, while They record everything YOU do.
Recording a Cop vs Rape: Which Has Longer Prison Sentence?
by Lawrence Taylor
DUIblog.com
June 4th, 2011
In Illinois, they carry the same sentence: 15 years in prison. That’s right: using your cell phone to record cops beating up a citizen, for example, can land you in prison for 15 years (although it’s perfectly legal for the cop to record you).
An eye-opening news video entitled "Valley Man Faces 75 Years in Prison for Recording Law Enforcement" documents the current plight of Illinois citizen Michael Allison. Allison is facing 75 years in prison for five counts of openly audio taping public officials – a sentence usually reserved for murderers.
When he recently sued police for discriminatory law enforcement, the judge at trial refused to provide a court reporter. Understandably wanting a record of the proceedings, including the cops’ testimony, Allison told the judge he would record them himself. He was later arrested and the recording confiscated.
These laws are not limited to Illinois. Designed to protect cops and public officials from public scrutiny, they exist in many states across the country. And one has to question why they exist at all in a supposedly free and open society — much less carrying sentences usually reserved for murderers and rapists. Are cops and officials that afraid of having their conduct exposed to the light?
I wonder if taping a cop in China or North Korea is punished as severely as in Illinois – if at all?
VIDEO: Valley Man Faces 75 Years In Prison For Recording Law Enforcement
UPDATE: Case delayed and Allison refuses to take plea offer, find out why in this follow up video report.
Michael Allison faces 75 years in prison for recording law enforcement officials without their consent in Robinson, Illinois.
Illinois is one of the states applying old eavesdropping and wiretapping statutes to new technologies like cell phones or anything else that records audio.
Those laws technically make it illegal to record on-duty law enforcement officials without their consent. The penalty for that crime here in Illinois, is a class 1 felony.
Click on the video to watch our investigation into the state law and this particular case in Crawford County.
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