Commonwealth v. Schaeffer

In this case, we are called upon to determine the conditions under which state law enforcement personnel in Pennsylvania may constitutionally conduct electronic participant monitoring.

I note initially that, as has frequently been the case in the past, this case arises as the result of a criminal’s invocation of the state and federal constitutional proscriptions against unreasonable searches and seizures in an effort to suppress undeniable proof of his guilt. Nonetheless, it is a historical fact that many of the safeguards and liberties which honest citizens cherish and hold dear were forged…