Secretly recorded conversations admissible in criminal cases

The California Supreme Court says while secretly recording someone else's conversation is illegal, prosecutors can use the illicit recording as evidence in a criminal case. The San Francisco Chronicle reports the unanimous ruling cites a 1982 ballot measure that allows all "relevant evidence" to be introduced at trial. The case at hand concerns a private phone call about the actions of an alleged child molester. The court said that while the conversation was confidential under state law, its contents were clearly relevant and were properly disclosed to the jury in the molesting case.