Vindication: Police drop wiretap charges

The Telegraph
Aug. 11, 2006

NASHUA – Police won’t prosecute a man for using his home security system to record detectives on his front porch, Nashua Police Chief Timothy Hefferan announced Friday.

Michael Gannon was arrested June 27 after he made the videotape to record conversations among detectives who were at his door looking for his 15-year-old son, who was being investigated in connection with a mugging downtown. When Gannon brought the videotape to a police station to complain that a detective was rude to him, he was arrested on felony wiretapping charges.

The case attracted attention around the world, as news spread via the Internet. The Telegraph and city police received scores of phone calls and e-mails condemning the charges.

In addition to dropping the case against him, Nashua police also have concluded that Gannon’s complaint about the detective was justified, although the chief added that Gannon himself was “provocative” and “disrespectful.” The chief declined to say what discipline the detective might face.

Hefferan also commended detectives for their “tenacity and initiative” in investigating Gannon’s 15-year-old son, who was later charged in connection with the mugging. Police also found a stolen handgun inside the house, they reported, but it’s not clear who had possession of it, Hefferan said.

Gannon, 39, expressed relief.

“Glad to hear some good news finally,” he said. “I’ve been worried, a little scared, because they said they were going to hold 21 years over my head.”

After the case became public, the chief had said he would ask a prosecutor, First Assistant County Attorney Roger Chadwick, to review the case against Gannon.

On Friday, after conferring with the prosecutor, Hefferan said he decided to drop the matter.

“It’s the same sense that I had early on when I first learned of this, the morning after it occurred,” Hefferan said. “It wasn’t a real good feeling that I had for it . . . . We felt it would be extremely difficult to convince a jury of this.”

While police believe Gannon had violated state wiretap laws, Hefferan wrote in a statement announcing his decision, police and prosecutors concluded the case wasn’t strong enough to bother prosecuting.

Gannon’s cameras recorded both audio and video, and a sticker on the side of his Morgan Street home warned that persons on the premises were subject to being recorded. Police had charged that Gannon violated state wiretap laws by recording officers without their knowledge while they were standing on his front porch.

It is a crime under state law (RSA 570-A:2) to use any sort of electronic device to eavesdrop or record conversations without the consent of everyone involved. It’s a felony to record other people’s conversations, and a misdemeanor to record one’s own conversations without the other person’s consent.

Gannon said detectives came to his home late at night and refused to leave when he asked them to do so. He took a videocassette to the police station as evidence, saying he wanted to file a complaint against Detective Andrew Karlis, whom he said was rude.

Police have investigated Gannon’s complaint and concluded it was founded, Hefferan said. Hefferan said some action would be taken, but he couldn’t discuss it because the detective has already been publicly identified.

“I have sustained the complaint, and believe one of our detectives did not afford a member of the public the level of courtesy that they expect and deserve, regardless of how provocative, uncooperative or disrespectful that individual may have been to the officer during the same encounter,” Hefferan wrote.

Gannon disputed that he was rude to police, saying he simply asked them repeatedly to leave and used vulgarity only when they ignored his request.

“I told them get the eff out of my house,” Gannon said, adding, “I don’t see how me saying ‘Goodnight, gentlemen’ about 40 times is rude.”

“All I did is file a complaint, and I end up going to jail . . . They put my family through hell,” Gannon said. “I’m not saying my kids are perfect, but the way they came on, they acted like my kids killed the president or something.”

Gannon was released after his wife posted $10,000 bail. Before opting to drop the case, police offered a plea deal, Gannon had said: a 30-day, suspended jail sentence if he admitted to a single misdemeanor charge of evidence tampering.

Gannon refused.

“I felt that I did nothing wrong, so I wasn’t guilty,” he said Friday.

After Gannon turned down that deal, a prosecutor said his case would be sent to the Hillsborough County Attorney’s office for further prosecution. But Hefferan’s decision Friday ends the case.

Gannon appreciated the numerous phone calls he received from people offering their support, “people saying they backed me and all that.”

“But at the same time, I’m facing all these trumped charges, running scared,” he said. “I was more worried about the 21 years than anything else.”

Gannon said he hopes police will return and reinstall the security cameras, which they seized from his home during a search after his arrest.

“They broke them off the mounts and ripped the wires right out of the wall,” Gannon said. “They took it, they can return it, that’s my feeling.”

Hefferan said police will return Gannon’s equipment. He has yet to determine whether police can make public a copy of the videotapes, however. Because the recording is technically illegal, he said, it would be a crime to distribute it.

“I’m not sure whether I can do that,” Hefferan said.

The state wiretap law notwithstanding, Hefferan said citizens and businesses have the right to set up security systems that include audio recording, but they must post clear, obvious notice to warn anyone within range. The “obscure little sticker” Gannon had posted on the side of his house wasn’t enough, Hefferan said.