Court rules eavesdropping doesn’t bar officers’ testimony

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Indiana Supreme Court has decided that some testimony from Michigan City police officers might be allowed against a murder suspect even though they wrongly eavesdropped on conversations between the man and his defense attorney.

A LaPorte County judge had barred all trial testimony against 22-year-old Brian Taylor from those officers after they invoked their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the eavesdropping.

The Supreme Court ruled that the judge’s decision was too broad but that prosecutors will have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the officers’ testimony isn’t tainted.

Taylor is charged in his girlfriend’s March 2014 shooting death.

His defense attorney argued before the court in October that the officers shouldn’t be allowed to testify because they wrongly heard discussions about the defense’s strategy.