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Bogus Wiretap Charges Brought Against Man Who Recorded Cops Costs NH Taxpayers $275,000

from the public-servants-still-screwing-the-people-they-serve dept

Wed, Dec 13th 2017 9:24am — Tim Cushing

One of those things I thought would have gone out of vogue is apparently still in style in New Hampshire. The number of bullshit wiretap prosecutions brought against people recording cops has dropped precipitously over the past half-decade as courts have found use of wiretap statutes in this fashion unconstitutional, but over in the Live Free or Die state, the statute lives freely and dies even harder.

Back in 2015, prosecutors brought wiretapping charges against Alfredo Valentin. Valentin had returned home one day to find a SWAT team in the middle of a no-knock raid. Apparently, Valentin's roommate was also a heroin dealer. Valentin had been called home by a neighbor who noticed his dog wandering the street, apparently set free (and still alive!) by the SWAT team's home-breaching efforts. Valentin chose to record the officers as they proceeded with the raid despite officers telling him (wrongly) that he couldn't.

This became a wiretapping charge because the cops couldn't handle a citizen ignoring a direct order. They claimed Valentin "hid" the phone by placing it down by his leg while he kept recording. Apparently, the officers could still see the phone, so claims of it being a "secret" recording were per se moronic. But this was what the flimsy, highly-questionable charges rested on: a supposedly surreptitious recording officers in attendance knew was happening.

The charges were tossed and Valentin sued. Now, with the ACLU's help, Valentin has obtained a settlement (but not an admission of wrongdoing) from the government.

The settlement, which was reached in late September, was announced Wednesday by the ACLU-New Hampshire.

Lehmann said Valentin received about two-thirds of the settlement, and he will use it to get his life back together. He was arrested in March 2015. The previous year, Free State activists from New Hampshire prevailed when the U.S. First Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that any person has a First Amendment right to video or audio-record police officers engaged in official duties in public places.

Gilles Bissonnette, the ACLU-NH's legal director and co-counsel, said the settlement recognizes that recordings of police are a critical check on police power.

"The police need to understand that individuals who are recording their work without interference have a constitutional right to do so, and it is not cause for their arrest," Bissonnette said.

The First Amendment right exists with or without a police officer giving consent to the recording, the ACLU said.

The $275,000 settlement will hopefully help Valentin piece back together a life law enforcement officers vindictively destroyed. Following his arrest, Valentin lost his job of eleven years and has spent the past two years trying -- and failing -- to restart his career. Having a felony arrest on his record doesn't help, even if charges were ultimately dropped.

New Hampshire's wiretapping statute still stands. The state requires two-party consent for recordings. But, as has been pointed out by courts previously, the state's statute does not apply to recording public servants like police officers performing their duties in public. The state's Attorney General made this explicitly clear in the wake of the First Circuit Appeals Court's Glik decision. A memo [PDF] clarifying the right to record police was sent to law enforcement agencies in 2012, so the officers here -- and the prosecutor who chose to continue pressing charges -- had no excuse for their actions. In the process, they cost an innocent person his job and derailed his life for the better part of two years. And in the end, they'll have the bill covered by New Hampshire taxpayers and a signed agreement saying they did nothing wrong.

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Filed Under: alfredo valentin, new hampshire, police, recording police, wiretap

28 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 9:43am

275K? Not even close to enough
It should be at least 5X that -- the sum to be paid by the arresting officers, who should have ALL their assets confiscated and sold. They should be left bankrupt and homeless -- let them freeze and stave to death. It's what they deserve.
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Jordan Chandler, 13 Dec 2017 @ 9:46am

Prosecutors
Is it just me or are prosecutors some of the scummiest most corrupt people in the USA?
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 9:59am

'In the process, they cost an innocent person his job and derailed his life for the better part of two years'

not just 2 years. is he working again now? if so, is the job as satisfying and well-paid as the one he was caused to lose? he and any others in a similar position, anywhere, deserve much more than this paltry sum! he has the rest of his life to live and bills to pay. the ability to do that was completely removed through no fault of his own. he deserves better! the police deserve much harsher punishments!! without them, there are no deterrents!!
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:07am

Probably not a good idea to have a heroin dealer as your roommate. Just saying.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:32am

He's lucky the SWAT team didn't shoot his dog.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:32am

whataboutism: role reversal
But what about all those TV shows that have a camera crew "embedded" with the cops on a nighttime raid as they bust down doors and abuse people in their underwear (or worse)?

Such extreme privacy-violating scenes have been a staple on TV for decades, and I've never understood how the authorities have ever been able to get away with that.

It's indeed a strange system when anyone who dares to film themselves being filmed by a (for-profit) TV show crew during a police raid of their house gets charged with a crime.

And then what about that still-alive dog? Isn't it standard policy for police to shoot and kill any --and every-- dog they come across in a house raid? Maybe that one hid under the sofa and then made a fast dash toward the open door, perhaps even dodging bullets on the way.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:46am

Re:
Yeah, when somebody does something bad near you, YOU should get ripped off of your rights.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:48am

Re:
Sure, because they will tell you they are up front, and you can control another person's actions. Just sayin'.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 10:52am

Do the Two Party Concent include highway and light cams? How about car cams?
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Oblate (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:17am

Re:
Dog was a moving target. There may have been unexplained damage to the lawn, shrubbery, and a few holes in nearby cars and homes. Assuming that their aim with their weapons is as poor as their aim with their charges.
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Gwiz (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:17am

Re: whataboutism: role reversal

Such extreme privacy-violating scenes have been a staple on TV for decades, and I've never understood how the authorities have ever been able to get away with that.

I believe (but IANAL, so I don't know for sure) that shows like "Cops" have to obtain a signed release from the "perps" before they can air the video without blurring the identities, especially if it's filmed on private property.

I would imagine that getting a signed release wouldn't cost much more than bail money in most cases.
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Ed (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:21am

Sueing the state or city or other government is never going to stop this abuse by police and prosecutors. To really send a message, sue the individual police and prosecutors. Attack their pensions. Sue the police unions for racketeering. When their pensions are depleted and the individuals are bankrupted, maybe then they'll start paying attention. Just shoving the liability onto taxpayers gets nothing but a shoulder-shrug from the perpetrators. Hit them where it hurts them individually.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:29am

Re: Re:
naw you should just be shot... hard to bring prosecution when you are a dead witness.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:33am

Re: whataboutism: role reversal
"whataboutism"

this is literally people pointing out hypocrisy and double standards. People will go to any lengths... and I mean ANY to refuse to admit being wrong about something.

Someone calls you out on your double standards or hypocrisy and all you need to do is accuse of them of whataboutism in hopes they shut up about it.

weak!!!
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btr1701 (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:38am

Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal
> especially if it's filmed on private property

Screw the post-raid releases. What right to do private, non-governmental entities have to be on the property in the first place?

This is something I've always wondered about shows like COPS, where the cameras follow the officers in real time as they enter people's homes. The cops may have the legal right to be there given the circumstances, but there is no set of circumstances that gives employees of a TV company the right to enter my home without my permission, nor does the government have the legal authority to give other private parties the right to enter my home without my permission.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:50am

Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal
That is not what the term is "about"
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:58am

Re:
The cops can agree on your behalf, it is a privilege that they have given themselves.
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Gwiz (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 12:43pm

Re: Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal

What right to do private, non-governmental entities have to be on the property in the first place?

They don't have that right according to SCOTUS. WILSON V. LAYNE (98-83) 526 U.S. 603 (1999).

Based on what I've seen of COPS, most of the people on the show don't seem very educated and/or have a lot of money so they are probably coerced into quiet settlements by the network's army of lawyers when this comes up.
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bob, 13 Dec 2017 @ 12:46pm

Re: 275K? Not even close to enough
while I'm not sure about stripping them mof their houses, etc.. I think that going after their pensions would be in alignment. they broke the rules as cops, their cop pensions are forfeight as much as necessary to pay for their wrondgoing.
perhaps if it was tied to ALL pensions of the particular police station, other officers would be incentivized to curb such bad behaviour because it would hurt them as well.
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James T (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 3:02pm

Re:
Can't do that due to qualified immunity as they legitimately think their doing the legal action here.
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Anonymous Coward, 13 Dec 2017 @ 8:40pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal
Some of those police-raid TV shows were far worse than "Cops", like the completely over the top stunts in "Steven Seagal: Lawman" - a reality show that turned out to be all too real.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2011/08/31/actor-steven-seagal-sued-for-driving-tank-into -arizona-home-killing-puppy
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Bergman (profile), 13 Dec 2017 @ 11:44pm

Re: Prosecutors
Well, what incentive do they have to not be corrupt? They are immune to all civil lawsuits no matter how blatant their rights violations are, and unless they decide to prosecute themselves they are effectively immune to criminal prosecution as well.

If you were to pass a law that gave anyone, from the poorest illegal immigrant to the President of the United States that sort of civil law immunity prosecutors have, it would be struck down as unconstitutional so fast judges would be lining up to do so. But it's not a law -- judges just refuse to hear any case that tries to sue a prosecutor, despite the fact that courts cannot create new laws.

If anybody but a court did it, the courts would point to it as proof of corruption. But not if courts do it.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 14 Dec 2017 @ 5:19am

Re: Re: Prosecutors
@ Jordan Chandler, yes:

https://www.houstonsexcrimeslawyer.com

There are loads of these.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 14 Dec 2017 @ 5:21am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal
Oh, dear lord...! This is what happens when pop culture creates an atmosphere in which due process is considered an impediment to justice.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2017 @ 7:27am

Re: Re: Re:
Easier to just toss a flash grenade
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Dec 2017 @ 7:32am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: whataboutism: role reversal
It seems there is an increase in the ridiculous war - shoot 'em up type tv shows. The propaganda is thick and disgusting.

It's not a job, it's an adventure! Sign up now, because we really do not want to start up the draft again. Think I'll go watch Starship Troopers now.
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JohnZ, 16 Dec 2017 @ 12:46pm

Re: Prosecutors
No it is not you. They really are.
They and the judges who sit at the bench.
So rest easy.
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JohnZ, 16 Dec 2017 @ 12:52pm

Prosecutors
If you really want the low down on prosecutors and how they operate, I suggest reading Harvey Silverglate's book " Three felonies A Day". It will give anyone insight into the nefarious activities of these political social climbers.
Be forewarned: Americans on average commit three felonies a day without realizing it. A routine traffic stop may end up escalating into a deadly and fatal situation.
For more , visit the Rutherford.org.
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