W.D.Mo.: One recorded by another for the government has standing to challenge the other’s consent

One defendant subjected to a government recording of his call with a consenting person has standing to challenge the voluntariness of consent of the other person. United States v. Hawkins, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 187767 (W.D. Mo. October 18, 2012):

While the Corona-Chavez case does not address the issues of standing or the voluntariness of a consent, numerous other cases have found that defendants, such as defendant Hawkins, do have standing to challenge the voluntariness of another’s consent to the recording of a phone conversation with them. In United States v. Hodge, 539 F.2d 898, 900 (6th Cir. 1976), cert. denied, 429 U.S. 1091, 97 S. Ct. 1100, 51 L. Ed. 2d 536 (1977), a government informant (Mondaine) consented to the recording of telephone conversations between himself and defendant Hodge. Defendant Hodge argued that admission of the conversations into evidence violated the Fourth and Fifth Amendments of the United States Constitution and 18 U.S.C. § 2511. Id. The court found: [¶] … A person may challenge government evidence on the ground that it was seized by electronic surveillance violative of his Fourth Amendment right to be free of unreasonable searches and seizures if the person was a party to the conversation ….