Washington V. Glass

TALMADGE, J. -- Often in a bazaar-like setting on the street, the defendants responded to a police informant's request for rock cocaine by approaching or entering the informant's car, and selling or delivering rock cocaine to the informant. A camera recorded them in the act. They contend the audio recordings*fn1 were inadmissible because their conversations with the informant were private under the Privacy Act, RCW 9.73.030, and the authorization to record under RCW 9.73.090(5) was not based on probable cause because the authorities had no particular suspect in mind other than street traffickers dealing drugs. In sixteen cases, the trial courts admitted the recordings of the conversations into evidence. The Court of Appeals held that conversations of "vendors . . . selling their wares on a public street to anyone" are generally not protected by the Privacy Act, and ruled that the orders authorizing the recordings satisfied a statutory standard of probable cause under RCW 9.73.090(5). It affirmed the defendants' convictions