Phone Recordings Often Used as Evidence in Date Rape Investigations

Date Rape refers to a sexual assault case in which the two people have gone out on a date and at some point during the evening sexual contact has occurred that one party claims was not consensual. A complaint is made to the police and detectives begin their investigation.

In these types of cases consent is the primary issue. It becomes a classic “He said She said ” issue. To try and strengthen their case the police often instruct their “victim” to record a suspect and get admissions over the phone. This technique is a “controlled call”. In Texas if one party to a phone conversation consents to the recording then their is nothing illegal about the recording and it can be used as evidence in a criminal trial. The goal is to get some type of admission from a suspect indicating that their was some type of force used or that the victim had made it clear she was not consenting. Text messages or emails can also be used in this way.

If you suspect you are under investigation for this type of offense you should never talk about the facts with anyone without first consulting  a criminal attorney.