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Court: Husband's Wiretap Invaded Wife's Privacy By Bill Dolan 6/20/05 |
Wiretapping a spouse suspected of sinister behavior is all right in a paperback mystery, but apparently not in real-life Indiana where a local woman hopes to collect damages from her ex-husband.
The Indiana Court of Appeals has ruled Steven W. Dommer violated state and federal law and his wife's privacy by playing the amateur sleuth.
"All is not fair in love and war," Valparaiso attorney Richard Cagen said Monday. He represents Mary Ann Dommer.
"You cannot batter your spouse, you can't torture them and the Legislature said (wiretapping
a spouse) is one thing you shouldn't do."
Nevertheless, Steven Dommer wants to appeal.
There is no dispute Mary Ann and Steven Dommer married in the late 1990s. A son from Steven Dommer's previous marriage moved in, and the couple agreed to surreptitiously record that son's telephone conversations to determine whether he was using illegal drugs. Court papers don't disclose what they learned.
Steven Dommer claims his former wife, Vicky, began receiving hate mail and he came under suspicion by Chesterton police of being behind it. Steven Dommer suspected his wife, Mary Ann, was harassing Vicky.
He installed a second
listening device, unknown to his wife, behind a water heater in their home and recorded her telephone conversations between March 15, 2001, and July 1, 2003, in the hope of catching her doing something improper.
Source: nwitimes.com
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