United States of America v. Patrick Joseph Savage
564 F.2d 728
In the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
Case Number 77-5085
Before Circuit Judge Ainsworth
Decided on December 15, 1977

Relevancy of the case: Validity of telephone communications overheard by a switchboard operator as evidence

Statutes and Provisions Involved

• The Federal Wiretapping Statute, 18 U.S.C. §§ 2510-2511

Relevant Facts of the Case

• In November 1976, the defendant ordered a pizza delivered to his hotel room. He paid the pizza delivery man with a twenty-dollar note. The pizza delivery man suspected the note to be counterfeit and approached the police.
• The police officers and the pizza delivery man returned to the hotel, and the defendant’s girlfriend informed them that he had left the room to get cigarettes.
• The motel switchboard operator relayed a conversation she overheard on the telephone line between the defendant and his girlfriend regarding the money.
• When the defendant returned, the policemen arrested him and searched the room to find a suitcase containing $23,000 in counterfeit notes.
• The district court found the defendant guilty. As a result, the defendant has filed the present appeal.

Prominent Arguments by the Counsels

• The defendant’s counsel put forth two contentions:
  • The district court failed to suppress the illegal evidence of the telephone conversation between him and his girlfriend overhead by the motor switchboard operator.
  • The police did not have probable cause to arrest him and conduct a warrantless search of his hotel room.

Opinion of the Bench

• Both contentions are unpersuasive. One of the exceptions in the statute is the interception or disclosure of information heard in the ordinary course of business. In this case, the operator relayed the information to the police.
• A warrantless arrest is constitutional if a probable cause exists. The police knew that a counterfeit bill had been passed to the pizza delivery man and thus had probable cause. Therefore, the police’s further search of the room was also valid.

Final Decision

• The court upheld the defendant’s conviction.

Arnav Kaman, an undergraduate student at Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law, Punjab, prepared this case summary during his internship with The Cyber Blog India in January/February 2024.