# Legal garbo

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [April 21, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058 "2007-04-21T11:59:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![jan.jop10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@jan.jop10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jan.jop10)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058/1 "2007-04-21T11:59:42Z")

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Can a judge or lawyer order phone taps or surveillance o person with restraining ordering with (false) accusations of exhtortion?

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**Author:** ![jan.jop10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@jan.jop10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jan.jop10)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058/2 "2007-04-21T12:00:51Z")

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😕  
[QUOTE=jan.jop10]  
Can a judge or lawyer order phone taps or surveillance o person with restraining ordering with (false) accusations of exhtortion?  
[/QUOTE]

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**Author:** ![jan.jop10](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@jan.jop10](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jan.jop10)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058/3 "2007-04-21T12:06:42Z")

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[QUOTE=jan.jop10]  
Can a judge or lawyer order phone taps or surveillance o person with restraining ordering with (false) accusations of exhtortion?  
[/QUOTE]  
I hav an ongoing legal legal thing, of fals accusations, I do not know if this requires a lawyer any help would be appreciated. Also what would warrant a wire tap, to uphold a wire tap in court? Also taped conversations are they allowable?

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**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058/4 "2007-04-21T13:04:59Z")

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You may have either a factual question, so I could move this, for you, to the **General Questions** Forum.

Or, you may have a legal question that would be better answered by going to an attorney or to your local prosecutor. (I do not know what you mean by “garbo,” and I am afraid your question is unclear.

We may wind up shutting down this thread and letting you try again, but I will give you one answer and see whether it works for you.

A wiretap can be authorized by a judge in a criminal investigation if a prosecutor can persuade the judge that there it is probable that a crime is being committed (or planned) and that it is likely that a person is using the telephone, either to commit the crime, (for example fraud or harrassing phone calls), or to conspire or plan to commit the crime.

I do not know of any case in which a lawsuit between people who are mad at each other can be used to justify a phone tap. (If person A is suing person B because person B did a shoddy repair job, Person A cannot get a judge to order a wiretap just to find out how person B handles business over the phone and person B cannot get a judge to order a wiretap just to find out if person A is talking about the case with other people.) With no crime, there is no wiretap.

Get back to us clarifying your question.

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [April 21, 2007, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/legal-garbo/401058/5 "2007-04-21T22:56:58Z")

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She just vanted to be alone. Is that illegal?