State ex rel. Ohio Bell Telephone Co. v. Williams

The central issue before this court is whether the Court of Common Pleas properly directed the telephone company, a non-party to an ex parte hearing, to aid law enforcement officials with technical assistance necessary for the implementation of a pen register to investigate a continual course of alleged criminal activity, which there was probable cause to believe was being committed over telephone lines owned, operated and exclusively controlled by appellant.1

A pen register only records the number dialed on a particular telephone. The United States Supreme Court, in describing the mechanics…