GA: LPN at nursing home had no REP in patient’s room from video recording

A rehabilitation center resident’s son put a video camera in his father’s room because of the father’s concern that “strange things” were happening there at night. The resident wanted his son to stay there but he couldn’t because of his stepchildren while his wife was a work. An LPN at the center charged with elder abuse claimed she had a reasonable expectation of privacy in the room under the state recording statute. Looking at Fourth Amendment cases, the court concludes she didn’t. Nuckles v. State, 2020 Ga. LEXIS 927 (Dec. 21, 2020):

The evidence presented at the hearing demonstrates that Nuckles never exercised exclusive control over Dempsey’s room and never used it for personal reasons. She testified that she did not pay any rent for the use of the room; she never slept or changed clothing there; she never used Dempsey’s bathroom; and she never kept her personal items in his room. Instead, it appears that Nuckles was engaged in her work duties at the time the recording was made, and there is nothing to suggest that she would not have been subject to supervision or observation by other rehab facility employees in the performance of her duties. In fact, Nuckles was charged along with two other co-defendants who apparently also were in Dempsey’s room at the time of the video recording. Under these circumstances, we conclude that the State carried its burden of showing that Nuckles had no reasonable expectation of privacy in the area captured on the video recording at the time she was recorded, and thus the trial court properly denied her motion to suppress.