Commonwealth v. Schaeffer

I respectfully dissent. Unlike the majority, I am of the opinion that the General Assembly clearly and unambiguously intended, and provided in 18 Pa.C.S. § 5704(2)(ii), for the warrantless interception and recording of oral communications between a consenting informant and a third person engaged in suspected criminal activities. The words of a statute must be given their plain meaning. Com. v. Stanley, 498 Pa. 326, 446 A.2d 583 (1982). “When a statute is not ambiguous and the wording clear, then the letter of [the] statute may not be circumvented on the pretext of pursuing its spirit.”…