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petitioner sold Logan 10 pounds of high-potency "Thai weed" on
consignment, for which Logan never paid petitioner. Logan was in
jail at the time Customs made its offer to him.
At trial, respondent introduced tape recordings of telephone
calls made on February 18, February 23, and February 24, 1987,
between Logan and petitioner.3
On these calls, Logan offered to sell petitioner a "4-digit
number, starts with a one" quantity of "T-shirts" in "2.2
packages" for a price in the "mid-11s". Petitioner has never
3At trial, petitioner objected to the introduction of the
recordings as evidence, because they were made without his
knowledge or consent in violation of the law of the State of
California.
Title 18 U.S.C. sec. 2511 (1994) prohibits interception and
disclosure of wire, oral, or electronic communications, except as
otherwise specifically provided. Sec. 2511(2)(c) specifically
provides:
(c). It shall not be unlawful under this chapter for a
person acting under color of law to intercept a wire,
oral, or electronic communication, where such a person
is a party to the communication or one of the parties
to the communication has given prior consent to such
interception. [18 U.S.C. sec. 2511(2)(c) (West 1994).]
The recordings in this case were made by the U.S. Customs
Service in connection with an official investigation of
petitioner for drug trafficking, one of the parties in the
telephone conversation, Logan, consented to the recordings, and
the recordings were offered as evidence in a Federal court.
Accordingly, the recordings were lawful as consensual
wiretaps and are admissible as evidence. United States v. Kovac,
795 F.2d 1509, 1511-1512 (9th Cir. 1986) (whether the officials
complied with State law is not relevant; the only question is
whether the officials acted in compliance with Federal law);
United States v. Adams, 694 F.2d 200 (9th Cir. 1982) (evidence
obtained from a consensual wiretap conforming to 18 U.S.C. sec.
2511(2)(c) is admissible in Federal court without regard to State
law).
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