CHICAGO–(ENEWSPF)–September 22, 2011. The Daily Illini published an article about the recent cases involving the Illinois Eavesdropping Act which prohibits citizens from being able to audio record police officers performing their public duty. This article highlights one story where a man in Robinson, IL was acquitted of eavesdropping charges when the judge declared it a First Amendment violation.
On Sept. 15, Illinois Circuit Judge David Frankland wouldn’t even allow the case against Michael Allison, of Robinson, Ill., to reach a jury.
Allison faced up to 75 years in prison for five counts of felony eavesdropping, but can now walk free, after Frankland said the eavesdropping statute “impedes the free flow of information concerning public officials and violates the First Amendment right to gather such information.”
Source: aclu-il.org