Young, 26, the boyfriend of the 2-year-old’s mother, Rebekah, is charged with murder, felony endangering children and involuntary manslaughter after he allegedly beat the toddler to death. The defense team says all those charges should be dismissed because of the violation.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser, however, said there is no indication of wrong-doing.
Gmoser said neither he nor anyone in his office has listened to the calls and were unaware they existed until the defense filed the motion. It is routine for the prosecution to turn over all recordings and statements from the defendant to the defense.
A warning that phone calls are recorded is marked by phones in jail pods and in the booking area, which are available for use by inmates, according to Butler County Chief Deputy Anthony Dwyer.
A notification is also posted where attorneys enter the jail, stating “Attention all Legal Representatives: All telephones are electronically monitored for safety and security of the facility. Attorneys, courts and legal representative may contact our telephone provider to set up the verification process in order to have calls made to them unmonitored.”
“All phone calls in the jail are recorded and have been since this jail was opened,” Dwyer said.
A detective in the case did not listen to the calls in question because he realized right away they were placed to an attorney, according to Dwyer.
Now a special prosecutor, John Arnold from Warren County, and Visiting Judge Craig Hedric are scheduled to handle the other sides of the justice system during a specific hearing on the motion to dismiss on May 13.
But what is the policy in other area jails and how do defense attorneys handle calls from clients at the Butler County Jail?
Defense attorney David Washington said he spends hours each week at the Butler County Jail visiting clients in person.
“I know all phone calls are recorded and to discuss anything of substance on the phone with your client is not a good idea,” he said.
Defense attorney Tamara Sack said she too prefers to visit clients in person, but time is not always on her side. She noted lock-downs, bed counts and meal times also limit the amount of time to visit clients.
But she is pro-active when taking phone calls from the Butler County Jail.
“Being able to have communication with our clients while incarcerated is a paramount part of justice,” Sack said. “Any time I receive a phone call from jail from my client, I state, ‘this is an attorney client privileged communication.’ Then I state my name and that I am an attorney for the client.”
Sack added, “My jail phone conversations have never been a problem so far.”
Lawrence Hawkins III, a Butler County defense attorney, said discussions with clients in jail are best done in person.
“All calls are recorded and everyone knows that,” Hawkins said. “You would be surprised what my clients say on calls to their family and friends …. basically confessing to murder when they know the calls are being recorded.”
Hawkins added it is a routine practice, especially in high profile cases, for prosecutors and police to listen to recorded conversations from the jail.
He also acknowledges an attorney/client conversation if he does get a call from jail.
“When I get a call I say, ‘this is a call between attorney and client. Stop listening now’,” Hawkins said. “But usually I instruct them just to ask me to come visit them in jail.”
He is not aware if any of his attorney/client conversations have been illegally listen to by police or prosecutors.
All calls placed on the Warren County Jail inmate system are recorded, according to Maj. Brett Richardson, jail administrator.
But calls made by inmates to attorneys are policed by the pod officer on a different system and not recorded.
“We have to check out everything and make sure it is really a call to an attorney, but those calls can’t be placed from the inmate calling system,” he said.
Calls place from inmates from the Middletown City Jail are recorded and a tone during the call reminds the user of this fact, according to Carley Berman, Middlet0wn public relations coordinator. Middletown police pull recordings when they need to, but attorney client calls are privileged and officers do not listen to them, she said.
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