New York's top court: Parents can legally eavesdrop on kids

Legal Events

New York's highest court says parents can legally eavesdrop on young children, establishing an exception to state law against wiretaps without the consent of at least one person on a call.

The Court of Appeals split 4-3 in deciding such monitoring is justified when a parent or guardian reasonably believes it would be in the child's best interests to listen to and tape phone conversations.

Tuesday's ruling is in a case involving a cellphone recording of Anthony Badalamenti threatening to beat a 5-year-old boy. The boy's biological father made the recording.

Badalamenti lived with the boy's mother. He was convicted of child endangerment, assault and weapon possession.

His attorney challenged the tape as inadmissible evidence.

The ruling upheld a decision by a mid-level appeals court.

Related listings

  • Supreme Court rejects Blagojevich appeal in corruption case

    Supreme Court rejects Blagojevich appeal in corruption case

    Legal Events 03/27/2016

    The Supreme Court on Monday rejected former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's appeal of his corruption convictions that included his attempt to sell the vacant Senate seat once occupied by President Barack Obama.   The justices let stand an appeal...

  • Court gives green light to death penalty fast-tracking

    Court gives green light to death penalty fast-tracking

    Legal Events 03/24/2016

    A federal appeals court Wednesday cleared the way for the Department of Justice to allow states to have their inmates' death penalty appeals expedited through federal court.   Legal organizations that challenged the DOJ's criteria for certifying...

  • Judge begins to deliver verdict in Ukrainian pilot trial

    Judge begins to deliver verdict in Ukrainian pilot trial

    Legal Events 03/22/2016

    A Russian court has begun reading a verdict for Ukrainian pilot Nadezhda Savchenko, who is charged with complicity to murder two Russian journalists in war-torn eastern Ukraine.   The judge began reading the verdict Monday morning. He quoted arg...

USCIS Will Begin Accepting CW-1 Petitions for Fiscal Year 2019

On April 2, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting petitions under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap. Employers in the CNMI use the CW-1 program to employ foreign workers who are ineligible for other nonimmigrant worker categories. The cap for CW-1 visas for FY 2019 is 4,999.

For the FY 2019 cap, USCIS encourages employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to six months in advance of the proposed start date of employment and as early as possible within that timeframe. USCIS will reject a petition if it is filed more than six months in advance. An extension petition may request a start date of Oct. 1, 2018, even if that worker’s current status will not expire by that date.

Since USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the number of CW-1 visas available for FY 2019, USCIS may conduct a lottery to randomly select petitions and associated beneficiaries so that the cap is not exceeded. The lottery would give employers the fairest opportunity to request workers, particularly with the possibility of mail delays from the CNMI.

USCIS will count the total number of beneficiaries in the petitions received after 10 business days to determine if a lottery is needed. If the cap is met after those initial 10 days, a lottery may still need to be conducted with only the petitions received on the last day before the cap was met. USCIS will announce when the cap is met and whether a lottery has been conducted.

Business News

Clayton, MO Federal Criminal Defense Attorney The Law Offices of John M. Lynch, LLC, provides strong representation for clients with federal criminal defense. >> read
DuPage IL worker's comp lawyers The law firm of Krol, Bongiorno & Given, Ltd. has been a leader in the field of workers’ compensation law in DuPage, Illinois. >> read