If somebody is openly recording everything you say, can you secretly record them?
How about if...
-- you're all state employees,
-- conducting public business,
-- in a government building,
-- on the taxpayers' time?
And what if...
-- a fire drill interrupts the official hearing,
-- so a covert recording bugs everyone who strays within earshot?
Those are some of the puzzles put before Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper on Thursday in the case of a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officer netted by Florida's felony law against secret recordings. The stakes are high. A conviction could cost Officer Albert Smythe his law-enforcement certification, besides the criminal penalties. (more)
