Just a little over an hours drive away from my home is Robinson, Illinois where a man is facing 75 years in prison for recording law enforcement without their consent. Older wiretapping laws haven’t kept up with the ubiquitous audio and video recording technology of today.
42-year-old Michael Allison of Illinois could spend the rest of his life in prison for recording police in public. He faces five counts of eavesdropping, a class one felony.
He has refused a plea bargain in order to fight the law. Just earlier this week, it was ruled by a First Circuit Judge that a defendant in a similar case “was exercising clearly-established First Amendment rights in filiming the officers in a public space, and that his clearly-established Fourth Amendment rights were violated by his arrest without probable cause.”
Back to the story in Illinois, it was picked up by the local news out of Terre Haute, Indiana. You can watch the story in the following articles:
Valley Man Faces 75 Years In Prison For Recording Law Enforcement
Case Delayed For Valley Man Charged With Recording Law Enforcement
Valley Hearing For Recording Police Case
All 3 video reports have also been compiled into one YouTube video:
(Via BoingBoing)