Attorney says Hillsborough jail secretly recorded talks with client

TAMPA — Defense attorney John Trevena wants charges dismissed against a man accused of a sex crime, alleging that the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office has been secretly taping phone calls made to his law office by clients in jail.

The Sheriff's Office says there is no secret. It records almost all phone calls from the jail and leaves it to prosecutors to avoid listening to calls placed to attorneys.

As the two sides traded insults Wednesday, it became clear that jails across Florida have widely differing policies on attorney-inmate phone calls, and there is little consensus on the best way to operate.

Trevena said he got a tip last year that Sheriff David Gee had ordered recording and review of calls placed from the jail to the attorney's office. The informant — Trevena says he was one of Gee's lawyers — claimed the sheriff wanted a heads up on cases that might draw media attention.

Trevena's name frequently appears in local news reports. But sheriff's officials said he isn't as significant as he thinks.

"He's not that important to be targeted," Chief Deputy Jose Docobo said at a news conference Wednesday. "It will never be a practice for us to routinely listen to calls between inmates and their attorneys."

Docobo called Trevena's charges "delusional or an outright fabrication on his part, or perhaps even sheer incompetence as a lawyer."

Trevena later responded, "I can't believe they would say something so slanderous."

The attorney said he received a single compact disc containing tape-recorded telephone conversations made by his client, Richard Daniel Decoursy, as part of a routine records disclosure by prosecutors. Decoursy is charged with attempted sexual battery, false imprisonment, obstructing or opposing an officer without violence, and boating under the influence.

Listening to the recordings Monday night, Trevena was surprised to hear his own voice on about half of the calls. One, he said, was between Trevena and a client in an unrelated case. He said it is unethical and potentially criminal to record the privileged conversations between attorneys and their clients.

"It's the most egregious violation I have seen," he said. "I'm concerned about what is essentially illegal spying."

In his motion to dismiss, which will be argued in court Oct. 13, Trevena accused the sheriff's office and the assistant state attorney who is handling Decoursy's case of "intentional gross misconduct." Speculating that the prosecutor had listened to the conversations before releasing them, he said stern sanctions should be imposed against the state.

Trevena is also asking for a protective order barring the Sheriff's Office and other state officials from recording any of his conversations with clients.

Prosecutors would not comment, citing pending litigation over the motion.

Docobo turned the tables and said he would direct sheriff's attorneys to file a bar complaint against Trevena. He pointed to case law that says attorney-client privilege is negated by the presence of a third party, including recording devices.

"Obviously Mr. Trevena has exceeded his annual budget for advertising and has resorted to this shameful and disgusting display of self-promotion to get his name back in the news," Docobo said.

Sheriff's officials said attorneys and clients should realize their phone calls aren't private. Signs saying as much are posted near phones at the jails, and the message is repeated to inmates before their calls go out.

The only calls that don't get recorded in Hillsborough are those made by inmates to the Public Defender's Office. The jails have telephone lines connected directly to that office.

Sheriff's spokesman Larry McKinnon said it would be impossible to distinguish calls made to every private attorney.

But other counties do it.

In Pasco and Pinellas and elsewhere in the state, private attorneys can register their office numbers with the jails. The jail phone systems won't record the conversation when the registered number is dialed.

"There is a system in place where the number of the attorney of record is kept and that number is automatically excluded from being recorded," said Pinellas sheriff's spokeswoman Cecilia Barreda.

Defense attorneys who practice in Hillsborough County said they are well aware that they are being recorded and are careful not to discuss their clients' cases over jail phone calls.

"I don't have any problems with law enforcement listening in when they have people incarcerated," attorney Stephen Crawford said. "I know if I need to talk to my client I can go (to the jail) and get a private room. That's the compromise."

Others said they thought it was wrong for the jail to turn over tapes of attorney-client calls to prosecutors. Some defense lawyers have complained without success to the sheriff's legal department about Hillsborough's recording policy.

Attorney Lyann Goudie thinks it should be changed.

"The fastest way to communicate with your lawyer is through the phone," she said.

Times staff writer Jamal Thalji contributed to this report. Colleen Jenkins can be reached at cjenkins@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3337.