Robert Craig Light v. United States

In United States v. King, 478 F.2d 494 (9th Cir. 1973), this court held that certain telephone taps had been conducted in violation of law and that the conversations overheard were inadmissible as to those whose privacy had been invaded. Standing to suppress, however, was not extended to all defendants. We stated: “[A] defendant may move to suppress the fruits of a wire-tap only if his privacy was actually invaded; that is, if he was a participant in an intercepted conversation, or if such conversation occurred on his premises * * * 478 F.2d at 506 . Standing was, however, extended to one Maack who was not party to a conversation. As to him, we stated: “On at least one occasion a message sent at his direction and a reply thereto were intercepted by Government agents. His privacy was thus invaded to the same extent as if he had taken the phone in hand and spoken on the line himself.” Id.

Robert Craig Light, appellant here, was a party to United States v. King who, not having participated in any conversation, was held not to have standing to suppress the overheard conversations. Judgment against him was affirmed.

Subsequently, Light sought to show that two of the…