25 July 2010

Hazard Co. Prosecutor Seeks 16 years for Illegal Wire Taping?

A few months ago, a Maryland Air National Guardsmen was driving his motorcycle on I95 above the posted speed limit and in a manner not necessarily legal.  That was just the beginning for staff sergeant Anthony Graber, who also happened to be filming the incident with a video camera mounted on top of his helmet.

As seen on the link provided and explained in detail by ABC News, Graber never did anything seriously wrong, until he became the unwilling victim of Maryland's egregious wiretapping law.  In this non-free state, it is perfectly acceptable for the police to film your actions from within their police cruiser, but if you so happen to record their spoken speech, you are guilty for not having two party consent.  Never mind that any police officer is a public official, doing a job on the citizens dime, in a public area where there is no expectation of privacy that would be a conversation carried over a "wire" or "wave." 

I used to have some respect for the Harford County States Attorney Joseph I. Cassilly, but this is just a ridiculous abuse of the law and the power of the prosecutor's office.  So much for the 4th Amendment in Maryland!  Just make sure that if you get pulled over, before the officer speaks to you and you are recording, notify him/her that you know you're on their camera, make them aware that they are on yours.