Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: With out consent

Recording a private conversation without the informed consent of all participants is usually illegal in California. The most significant exception to this rule is that it is legal to record conversations which the participants should realize someone might overhear. The nature of the conversation has no bearing on whether recording it is legal.

At least two statutes govern the making of such recordings. One applies to telephone conversations and another to in-person conversations. There may be others that I'm not thinking of at the moment.

A recording made in violation of these statutes is inadmissible for any purpose, except that it can be used as prosecution evidence in criminal cases in which making the illegal recording is one of the crimes charged.