2011 Louisiana Laws
Revised Statutes
TITLE 15 — Criminal procedure
RS 15:1302 — Definitions

PART II. INTERCEPTION OF COMMUNICATIONS AND

RELATED MATTERS

§1302. Definitions

As used in this Chapter:

(1) "Aggrieved person" means a person who was party to any intercepted wire or oral communication or a person against whom the interception was directed.

(2) "Attorney for a governmental entity" means an attorney on the staff or under the direct supervision of the district attorney authorized by law to prosecute such offenses as are subject of the pen register or trap and trace device.

(3) "Aural transfer" means a transfer containing the human voice at any point between and including the point of origin and the point of reception.

(4) "Communications common carrier" means any person engaged as a common carrier for hire in communication by wire or radio; however, a person engaged in commercial radio broadcasting which is supervised by the Federal Communications Commission shall not, insofar as such person is so engaged, be deemed a common carrier.

(5) "Contents" when used with respect to any wire, electronic, or oral communication includes any information concerning the substance, purport, or meaning of that communication.

(6) "Court of competent jurisdiction" means state district courts of general criminal jurisdiction and those courts exercising appellate jurisdiction thereof.

(7)(a) "Electronic communication" means any transfer of signs, signals, writings, images, sounds, data, or intelligence of any nature transmitted in whole or in part by a wire, radio, electromagnetic, photoelectronic, or photo-optical system, but does not include any of the following:

(i) Any oral communication.

(ii) Any communication made through a tone-only paging device.

(iii) Any communication from a tracking device used to locate a mobile object by emission of a sound signal.

(b) "Electronic communication" specifically includes the radio portion of a cordless, portable, or cellular telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless, portable, or cellular handset and the base or transmitting tower or unit.

(8) "Electronic communications service" means any service which provides to users thereof the ability to send or receive wire or electronic communications.

(9) "Electronic communications system" means any wire, radio, electromagnetic, photo-optical, or photoelectronic facilities used for the transmission of wire or electronic communications, and any computer facilities or related electronic equipment for the electronic storage of such communication.

(10) "Electronic, mechanical, or other device or means" denotes any device or apparatus which can be used to intercept a wire, electronic, or oral communication other than:

(a) Any telephone or telegraph instrument, equipment, or facility, or any component thereof, either:

(i) Furnished to the subscriber or user by a communications common carrier in the ordinary course of its business and being used by the subscriber or user in the ordinary course of its business, or

(ii) Being used by a communications common carrier in the ordinary course of its business, or by an investigative or law enforcement officer in the ordinary course of his duties.

(b) A hearing aid or similar device being used to correct subnormal hearing to not better than normal.

(11) "Intercept" means the aural acquisition of the contents of any wire or oral communication through the use of any electronic, mechanical, or other device.

(12) "Investigative or law enforcement officer" means any commissioned state police officer of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections who, in the normal course of his law enforcement duties, is investigating an offense enumerated in this Chapter, and the district attorney authorized by law to prosecute or participate in the prosecution of such offense.

(13) "Judge" means the senior judge of a judicial district court of the state, any judge of the Orleans Parish Criminal District Court, or a judge designated by a majority vote of the court in writing in advance to consider applications for warrants or orders under this Chapter.

(14) "Oral communication" means any oral communication uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation that such communication is not subject to interception under circumstances justifying such expectation, but such term does not include any electronic communication.

(15) "Pen register" means a device which records and decodes electronic or other impulses which identify the numbers dialed or otherwise transmitted on the telephone line to which such device is attached, but this term does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wire or electronic communication service for billing, or recording as an incident to billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any device used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business.

(16) "Person" means any employee or agent of the state or a political subdivision thereof, and any individual, partnership, association, joint stock company, trust, or corporation.

(17) "Trap and trace device" means a device or electronic means which captures the incoming electronic or other impulses which identify the originating number of an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic communication was transmitted, except that it shall not include a service, device, or electronic means tariffed by the Louisiana Public Service Commission, used by a subscriber of telecommunicational services to receive the telephone numbers for calls placed to the subscriber.

(18) "Wire communication" or "communication by wire" means any aural transfer made in whole or in part through the use of facilities used for the transmission of communications by aid of wire, cable, or other like connection between the points of origin and reception, including the use of such connection in a switching station, furnished or operated by any person licensed to engage in providing or operating such facilities for the transmission of communications and such term includes any electronic storage of such communication, and such term includes the radio portion of a cordless, portable, or cellular telephone communication that is transmitted between the cordless, portable, or cellular handset and the base or transmitting tower or unit.

Acts 1985, No. 859, §1, eff. July 23, 1985; Acts 1987, No. 402, §1; Acts 1991, No. 795, §1, eff. July 22, 1991; Acts 1995, No. 1193, §1, eff. June 29, 1995.