Entertainment or murder: same rules
I had to call Hard Rock headliner Jeff Beacher to tell him about this story. For some reason, Beacher worries that I tape all our phone calls, because I tape our phone interviews. But I always have to inform someone before I record them on the phone. George Carlin had to call me back three times during the course of a recent interview. Each new call I asked the same question: "Can I start the tape now?" Something about always being asked: "Can I start the tape now?" three times can annoy a person Carlin mocked me for being such a rule following ninny. You see, Nevada is a two party consent State, which means I am not allowed to secretly tape phone calls. In fact, even in the context of an interview, I always need to inform the person before starting the tape. Interestingly, this means the consent to record the call is the one thing I never have on tape. Anyway, the story I called Beacher about involves a District Attorney who taped calls to him from a murder suspect who was on the run in Mexico. Apparently, since the fugitive didn't give the DA permission for the calls to be recorded, the judge hearing the case has not allowed the recordings into evidence at the trial.