Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

I'm going through divorce and custody battle. My 4 yr. oldson was in his grand mother's care before we filed for divorce. I suspected child abuse and audio recorded my son's day with his grandmother and found out that he was being abused emotionally and physically. Now that we are in divorce court, my ex's attorney is saying that i need to turn in the audio recording to him becasue recording someone is a criminal offense. But i did it because I had a probable cause and i was right. They are trying to get the evidence from me and destroy it. Do I have to turn in the recording to them or are there any loop holes around it. The recording does contain the verbal abuse. Thanks


Asked on 2/12/13, 9:43 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Kelvin Green The Law Office of Kelvin Green

Recording in California is illegal without two party consent if it was confidential communications where there is an expectation of privacy... You may be subject to scrutiny of the court ... There are exceptions if the communication could have been overheard in public.

The rules normally require you to turn over copies in a discovery process so you can keep original...but the illegal recordings can be used to find more discoverable issues but wont be admissible except for impeachment exceptions...

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Answered on 2/12/13, 8:44 pm


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