Inmate Calls To Lawyers Protected

Posted on May 12, 2011 by Rob McKinney

                  

One of the most basic ethical rules for lawyers is the attorney client privilege . It can not be violated by a any lawyer . Yet , the U.S. Attorney's  in Nashville  office broke that rule while prosecuting a sex trafficking ring . It appears the U.S. Attorney's Office  intercepted over 300 private phone calls from inmates or those accused of a crime to their criminal defense attorney.

One tactic that prosecutors both in federal court and state court here in Nashville love to use is to listen in on calls from jail. They are hoping to get more evidence or catch some confessing to the crime .Note to those that might end in in jail or their families . Don't discuss your case on a jailhouse telephone

Judge William Haynes ruled that the jail's recording of attorney-inmate calls is "a serious threat to constitutional rights". U.S. Attorneys had turned over 300 client telephone calls of criminal defense attorney Patrick Frogge.

The Davidson County Sheriff's Office did not comment on the court's order or their phone recording policy .

The court found that since the sheriff''s office has a policy of blocking some telephone calls from being recorded or listened in on if they knew the the phone number belonged to an attorney .

U.S. Attorney has not commented yet if his office intends to appeal Judge Haynes' decision.

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Davidson County Crime Map

Posted on April 19, 2010 by Rob McKinney

 

Criminal records are public record, and now thanks to the Davidson County Criminal Court Clerk it’s a little easier for residents to check up on their neighbors. Their website features an interactive map providing arrest details for all crimes that have occurred in the last seven days. You can check it out here ; http://ccc.nashville.gov/portal/page/portal/ccc/crimeMap/  The map is searchable by zip code and provides arrest data by the address of the defendant, so you can check up on your neighbors without having to peek through the blinds. Once you’ve chosen someone on the map to get more information on, you can click on their name to get details of the alleged crime, including a copy of the warrant, their bond amount, court dates, attorneys name, along with their entire arrest history in Davidson County.  

A quick, unscientific review seems to show that most alleged crimes are not occurring at the address of the defendant. This leads one to wonder if it may have been more practical to provide the data by the address where the alleged crime actually occurred. TheTennessean online provides a searchable database of reports made to Metro Police all the way back to November 2007. There, you can get a list of calls dispatched within up to a five mile radius of an address in any given date range. The log doesn’t provide names though, only the type of call, date, and address. 

According to Nielsen Online, approximately 75% of North Americans have internet service and usage has grown by 140% over the last decade. The internet provides a wealth of information at our fingertips. And now, calling the police or getting arrested in Nashville gives the entire community a chance to be Big Brother. 

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