Maryland May Prosecute ACORN Sting Video Makers

Newsbusters ^ | September 12, 2009 | Noel Sheppard

[Bob Eimiller]

By Noel Sheppard | September 12, 2009 - 15:26 In a shocking twist to Thursday's ACORN sting video story, the Baltimore city state's attorney is considering charging the two people that exposed the activity.

As NewsBusters has been reporting, Hannah Giles and James O'Keefe caught on video several ACORN representatives giving them advice as to how to get a loan to purchase a house to be used as a brothel whose employees would be under-aged illegal immigrants.

Despite the long list of laws possibly broken by these ACORN representatives, the Baltimore city state's attorneys office is looking into whether or not Giles and O'Keefe violated statutes concerning taping people without their consent....

[sickoflibs]

RE “Got me, but I know I support the hidden camera law”

Sorry, MD has no hidden camera law. Its voice recordings that are illegal.

[Graybeard58]

if it was a private residence then i would have to agree. Other wise how can the government put video cameras everyplace?

I don't know the law here in Illinois but it used to be you could video without consent but not audio.

May still be that way.

[sgtyork]

So you are saying that filming ACORN advising how to profit from human trafficing was “entrapment”?

[Yaelle]

This would be like punishing the Berkeley cop for catching the creep that raped that little girl for 19 years.

[org.whodat]

That was not what the original post said!! It said in Maryland you could not taken hidden video and voice recordings and it also said to distribute them was also illegal. But other than the charges during the Lewinsky deal, I have no ideal.

[org.whodat]

I do believe Rush used the same term Friday.

[sickoflibs]

RE :”I hope your right and the AG doesn’t have a leg to stand on. I hated what they did to Linda Tripp. It was disgusting”

This is Maryland protecting illegals and criminals (who just got the right to vote).

However the impeachment was unpopular and Tripp was demonized so public opinion was hardly going to rally for her. (It was a political calculation,)

In this case you got one hell of an embarrassing situation for democrats. There is a huge disadvantage of being in complete power like democrats are. Many Freepers are just learing that slowly.

Legally Maryland law protects those recording evidence of a crime, but liberals here use that to protect democrats,

[Bob Eimiller]

PATRICIA COATS JESSAMY<-——— Obviously she’s a prostitute and she’s pissed.

[org.whodat]

Should point out years ago I was an owner of a beer store. One of the things you had to watch for all the time was some Ahole preacher slipping some kid in on you trying to get your licenses for selling to a minor. Was that entrapment?

I did not support that BS then and I do not now.

Make the republicans stop voting for acorn funding and they go away.

[blueplum]

are state attorneys and/or city attorneys elected positions? if so, an excellent retort would be a recall petition

[sickoflibs]

RE :”That was not what the original post said!! It said in Maryland you could not taken hidden video and voice recordings and it also said to distribute them was also illegal.”

Then its wrong, businesses have got sued here for not having cameras in high crime areas. Its only the audio that is illegal, example Linda Tripp

[sgtyork]

Lots of nasty criminals complain about entrapment.

[sickoflibs]

Recall in Baltimore ???? LOL

You must be in a conservative state.

[JohnQ1]

In most places, the death of a public servant is tragic.
In some places, its legitimate cause for celebration.

[ccmay]

These anti-taping laws were passed by crooked politicians who were tired of being caught stuffing their trouser pockets time after time on video. They should all be repealed.

[calex59]

They are not going to prosecute. This is a poly trying to stop any more of the tapes(which by now even the liberals should have figured that there are more of them)from being released and aired. It is not illegal to do what they did, if it was then store cams are illegal. Phone tapping is illegal but they didn’t phone tap. The people who did this checked out the law before hand, you can bet on it.

[Bob Eimiller]

Corrupt systems hate exposure.

Obama's corrupt and he loves exposure. When was the last time he was in the Oval office? All the guy does is campaign and he obviously hates to work... That's why he had Pelosi and Reid compile the Health Care Bill and has a barn full of radical czars who will do all the work putting his Marxist agenda together.

[freespirited]

I looked up the MD law. It pertains to:

“wire, oral, or electronic communication”

A videotape is obviously not a wire communication. It’s not electronic. So the question is whether “oral communication” includes videotape.

Whatever, this is so stupid. They would never get a conviction.

[org.whodat]

It is a misdemeanor to use a hidden camera in a bathroom or dressing room. It is also a misdemeanor to use a hidden camera on private property “for purposes of conducting deliberate, surreptitious observation of a person inside the private residence,” or in a private place with “prurient intent.” Md. Crim. Law §§ 3-901, -902, -903. A person who is viewed in violation of these statutes has a civil cause of action. The court may award actual damages and reasonable attorney fees. A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and on conviction is subject to imprisonment not exceeding one year or a fine not exceeding $2,500 or both.Under Maryland’s Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act, it is unlawful to tape record a conversation without the permission of all the parties. See Bodoy v. North Arundel Hosp., 945 F.Supp. 890 (D. Md. 1996). Additionally, recording with criminal or tortuous purpose is illegal, regardless of consent. Md. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-402.

Disclosing the contents of intercepted communications with reason to know they were obtained unlawfully is a crime as well.

Violations of the law are felonies punishable by imprisonment for not more than five years and a fine of not more than $10,000. Civil liability for violations can include the greater of actual damages, $100 a day for each day of violation or $1,000, along with punitive damages, attorney fees and litigation costs. To recover civil damages, however, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant knew it was illegal to tape the communication without consent from all participants. MD. Code Ann., Cts. & Jud. Proc. § 10-410.

From: http://insidecharmcity.com/2009/09/10/md-could-charge-filmmaker-who-made-acorn-video/

So you say the voice recording of a camera is different, good one, maybe you could get the supreme court to buy it.

[Bob Eimiller]

In most places, the death of a public servant is tragic. In some places, its legitimate cause for celebration.

Excellent... "Don't tread on me!"