Posted on 01/29/2008 4:39:23 PM PST by secretagent
Attorney Simon Glik, 31, was a defendant in Boston Municipal Court today as his lawyer, June E. Jensen of Wayland, asked a judge to dismiss wiretapping, disturbing-the-peace and aiding-a-prisoner-escape complaints, which were issued against him last fall.
Jensen told Judge Mark H. Summerville that Glik was arrested in Boston on Oct. 1 for allegedly using his cell phone to record the arrest of a 16-year-old juvenile in a drug case.
She said the Moscow-born lawyer was walking through the Boston Common at 5:30 p.m. when he used his phone’s camera to videotape three police officers investigating the teen.
“If you look at the police report, the sole allegation is that Mr. Glik put out his arm, held out his cell phone and attempted to record the arrest of [another] individual,” Jensen told Summerville. “There aren’t a lot of state cases on this, but the statute requires secretive behavior, and there was nothing about the conduct here that was secretive.”
With the three arresting officers and several Glik supporters in the audience, Jensen noted that the cell phone recording did not include any discernable audio — a fact that was not disputed by prosecutor Glen A. Tagliamonte.
While Tagliamonte agreed to dismiss the aiding-an-escape charge, he argued that the remaining charges should stand.
“The standard for deciding this motion is probable cause, and in this case the police reports contain sufficient facts to support the charges,” he said. “The defendant is identified by name, and he admits that he used the phone to record.”
(Excerpt) Read more at masslaw.com ...
secretagent wrote:
“If its in public, we get to record it, right? “
—— I don’t see why you can’t record if it’s in public, wether it’s a cop or not. Actually it may be a good thing to have a independent third parties recording if they happen to be there. It could be beneficial to the arrestor/arrestee if anything went wrong.
I agree. So what’s the reasoning behind the law behind the prosecution?
FYI
More info on the police state of Mass here, including court citation:
http://www.dolanmedia.com/view.cfm?recID=312226
Thanks for the link. Well written and informative commentary by Harvey A. Silverglate and James F. Tierney:
“BOSTON, MA — Seven years ago, the Supreme Judicial Court held that the state wiretapping statute prohibits citizens from secretly recording their conversations with police officers during traffic stops.
Since then, state and local law enforcement have threatened — and sometimes carried out — prosecutions under an even more expansive interpretation of that law in order to suppress attempts by citizens to document possible police misconduct.”
Glik was from Moscow. He should be used to the Marxist Massachusetts copying the practices of the Soviet Union.
Whata legal shithole of a state. Oh, I forgot - Kerry, Kennedy, Markey and a whole bunch of reds.
Any pet peeves in particular?
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