State v. Christensen

*190¶[1

Chambers, J.

A mother, using the speakerphone function of the family’s cordless telephone system, surreptitiously listened to a conversation between her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend in which a crime was discussed. The mother was permitted to testify against the boyfriend at his trial about what she overheard. We conclude that under the Washington privacy act, chapter 9.73 RCW, the conversation in question was a private one and the base unit of the cordless telephone was a device designed to transmit. We reverse.

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

f 2 On October 24, 2000, two young men approached…