Drennan

Craig Boyd Drennan, who was superintendent of the Modoc Unified School District, was convicted of violating Penal Code section 632, subdivision (a) (intentional eavesdropping upon or recording of a confidential communication), based upon the installation of a hidden video camera, which took periodic photographs, without accompanying sound, of the area of the desk, computer, file cabinet, credenza and bookcase in the office of the Modoc High School principal.

We will reverse the judgment of conviction because the photographing of the principal’s office for a purpose and in a manner which did not reveal the content of any conversation, was not an intentional act of recording a “confidential communication” as those terms are used in section 632.

Factual and Procedural Background

Drennan is the superintendent of the Modoc Unified School District. Dewey Pasquini was the principal at Modoc High School during the 1998-1999 school year.

Sometime prior to December 1998, Drennan asked the school district’s attorney if it would be lawful to install a hidden camera in Pasquini’s office to determine if someone was breaking into Pasquini’s office and taking or reading confidential…