South Carolina § 17-30-100 - Recording, sealing, custody, and destruction of intercepted communications; notification of and inspection by parties to interception.

§ 17-30-100. Recording, sealing, custody, and destruction of intercepted communications; notification of and inspection by parties to interception.

(A) The contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication intercepted by any means authorized by this chapter, if possible, must be recorded on tape or wire or other comparable device. The recording of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication under this subsection must be kept in such a way as will protect the recording from editing or other alterations. Immediately upon the expiration of the period of the order, or extensions of the order, the recordings must be made available to the judge issuing the order and sealed under his directions. Custody of the recordings must be wherever the judge orders. They must not be destroyed except upon an order of the issuing or denying judge, or that judge's successor in office, and in any event must be kept for ten years. Duplicate recordings may be made for use or disclosure as permitted by this chapter.

(B) The presence of the seal provided for by this section, or a satisfactory explanation for the absence thereof, must be a prerequisite for the use or disclosure of the contents of any wire, oral, or electronic communication or evidence derived therefrom as required by federal law.

(C) Applications made and orders granted under this chapter must be sealed by the judge. Custody of the applications and orders must be wherever the judge directs. As required by federal law, the applications and orders must be disclosed only upon a showing of good cause before a judge of competent jurisdiction and must not be destroyed except on order of the issuing or denying judge, or that judge's successor in office, and in any event must be kept for ten years.

(D) A violation of the provisions of this section may be punished as contempt of the issuing or denying judge.

(E) Within a reasonable time but not later than ninety days after the termination of the period of an order or extensions of the order, the issuing or denying judge must cause to be served on the persons named in the order or the application, and those other parties to intercepted communications as the judge may determine in his discretion to be in the interest of justice, an inventory which must include notice of the:

(1) fact of the entry of the order or the application;

(2) date of the entry and the period of authorized, approved, or disapproved interception, or the denial of the application; and

(3) the fact that during the period wire, oral, or electronic communications were or were not intercepted.

The judge, upon the filing of a motion, must make available to the person or the person's counsel for inspection the portions of the intercepted communications, applications, testimony, recordings, and orders that would otherwise be discoverable under the South Carolina Rules of Evidence, unless otherwise provided by federal law or Rules of Court. On an ex parte showing of good cause to a judge of competent jurisdiction, the serving of the inventory required by this paragraph may be postponed.

HISTORY: 2002 Act No. 339, SECTION 14, eff July 2, 2002.