Tombstone Taps: 5th Cir

[Aimee Farr]

"The dispositive issue in Kee and Routier's complaint is whether the secret
electronic recording of their private prayers and conversations directed at
their deceased relatives violated their reasonable expectation of privacy."

http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/99/99-10555-cv0.htm

"In their affidavits, Kee and Routier assert that their "grieving
conversations and statements" and "oral prayers and communications to
ourselves and our God" should be private and not subject to government
wiretaps. These statements, alone, cannot sustain the weight of Kee and
Routier's burden in establishing that they had a subjective expectation of
privacy."

.....
Opinion hinges on: "The Failure to Demonstrate Sufficient Facts to Establish
a Subjective Expectation of Privacy"
.....

"Perhaps most damaging to Kee and Routier's argument is that they failed to
present evidence demonstrating any affirmative steps taken to preserve their
privacy. While it is apparent from their affidavits that they did not expect
government agents surreptitiously to be recording their prayers, they also
were aware that the service was being conducted in an outdoor setting. Kee
and Routier fail to allege that they took any steps to ensure that unwanted
individuals were excluded or that they did anything to preserve the private
nature of the service. They point to no reasonable safeguards or
common-sense precautions taken to preserve their expectation of privacy."

~Aimee

(The dead don't talk, but they do listen. I'm envisioning Mafia funerals
with TSCM checkpoints. "YOU ARE BEING RECORDED" epitaphs.)