re: Will Wade luncheon

quote:

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The reason they were inadmissible is because on a phone conversation for it to be used in a court of law one of the parties need to know about it or (wink wink) claim to know about it so it can be presented as evidence.

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That's not at all correct. A wire tap can still be done legally through a signed warrant from a judge, which will weigh the evidence and reasons for the request to determine if they outweigh the parties' constitutional right to privacy. In this case, the FBI had obtained a warrant, which would make the tapes admissible.

The reason the judge did not admit them into evidence during the trial is because he determined that those particular wire taps were not probative, meaning the value of the information or evidence did not outweigh the potential bias caused by them. This is common to all civil and criminal trials in our country. It wasn't because the taps were a constitutional violation.