Is it legal for a non-resident to place a hidden camera in the leased apartment of their significant other?

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Is it legal for a non-resident to place a hidden camera in the leased apartment of their significant other?

What are the legal ramifications if one were to install a hidden camera in the other’s apartment expressly without consent (consent would not have been given)? A camera was installed in my leased apartment without my consent by someone who does not live there in any capacity beyond being a significant other at the time. Said footage contains something of questionable legality (irrelevant at the moment), could this be used to establish probable cause for a warranted search?

Asked on January 16, 2012 under Personal Injury, Massachusetts

Answers:

MD, Member, California Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 12 years ago | Contributor

Here is the issue. You need to find out whether in your state this type of consent is required by you and whether it must be express and whether at one point or another you gave it. Further, where is the hidden camera placed? If placed in your home, you arguably have a reasonable expectation of privacy and even if this evidence were to be turned over to police, your defense attorney would have to argue fruit of the poisonous tree in that the material was obtained illegally (by police because the evidence was illegally obtained by the one who recorded it without your permission). Whether your state and constitutional theory offer exceptions such that the evidence would not be supressed and could still be used to find probable cause, it would depend on what your lawyer tells you.


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