ReallyOverIt
New
Reged: 04/17/07
Posts: 4
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I have started divorce proceedings with my wife and she recently figured out my email pasword and went through all my emails. I never gave her permission to do so and it was pasword protected, so I am wondering if she can use any information gained from her unauthorized access. I had personal correspondences from friends (which are damning to my case) as well as business emails and corresondence to my lawyer! I have found plenty of information in the ECPA and the wiretapping codes of Virginia, but I am concerned about spousal privelege. It is clear that anyone can't use electronic messages against you in court, but I just can't find anything pertaining to spouses! My lawyer is looking into it as well, but I am very curious. can anyone help me??
p.s. Why does this post censor the word, 'pasword?' I had to mispell it to get it to show up!?
Edited by ReallyOverIt (04/17/07 02:20 PM)
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theanswerguy
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2179
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It's illegal and won't be allowed as evidence .
http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+cod+19.2-62
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Never let your sense of morals get in the way of doing what's right. Isaac Asimov
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ReallyOverIt
New
Reged: 04/17/07
Posts: 4
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Thanks for the response--
I found that code and it looked promising, but I have a feeling that somewhere there is some exception for spouses.
I also saw that it is a class 6 felony, but no court is going to allow a spouse to press felony charges against another in a case like this!?
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gigi
Platinum
Reged: 11/06/06
Posts: 5042
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When Tree Rollins (former player-coach of Orlando Magic) got divorced, he tapped his wife's phone & got conversations between her & her boyfriend, wanted to use them as evidence. PLayed them for her children to hear so they knew she had started dating before the divorce was final.
He was criminally prosecuted.
The criminal prosecutors know that lots of crimes take place when a couple is divorcing. The violent ones are the worst and most frequently prosecuted, and the lies and perjury are rarely prosecuted, but that's mostly because it's so hard to prove and not because they don't think it's serious.
File the charges.
On the issue of spousal privelege, it is not what you think it is. It prevents people from being able to testify to secrets that their spouse told them in confidence during the marriage, even if they WANT to testify to these secrets. And if the secret was obtained illegally, it would seem to be even MORE likely that the evidence would be excluded.
If her lawyer sees that her information contains confidential information between you & your lawyer that inadvertently got into his hands, he has an ethical duty to net read it... not ONLY to ignore it, but to not read it at all. If he dares to read it or use it, I'd think you'd have a good ethical complaint against him.
You might want to have your lawyer warn her lawyer that this has happened and let her lawyer know that if any of these items becomes known, released, or if it turns out that it appears that her lawyer has any information about anything that must have been gleaned as proceeds of this crime, you will not only be seeking attorney's fees, but also will ask to have her lawyer removed from the case and will be pursuing ethical charges against him as well as criminal charges against her.
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Sarah1014
Platinum
Reged: 04/12/07
Posts: 2268
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HOLY SMOKES! YOU GO GIGI!!
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ReallyOverIt
New
Reged: 04/17/07
Posts: 4
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Wow! Thanks!
I knew I was using privelege in an incorrect way, I don't know how else to express it other than in Virginia, it seems that everything is equal and spouses have more rights--but I'm not a lawyer.
That's some good news and makes me feel a lot better. I have been thinking about it and I know if she were to punch me, it would be assault and I could press charges. I know that she read the emails and I bet she printed them out, so her lawyer has had to have read them. It is like the case you mentioned because I know she has taken the personal information she has gleaned from the emails and told her family and some of our friends about it. I feel that if she shows up to the table with a copy of any of the emails, that would be proof enough that she got into my email and I should be more than able to prove it. There is also a chain of custody thing where she has printed material that could have been altered.
Really, I just want out and she is trying to take everything from me. She watches too much TV and thinks she is entitled to everything--especially if she can catch me in any wrong doing.
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