| In re Marriage of Almquist (modified), 3-97-0811 3rd Dist. 11-16-98 |
No. 3--97--0811
_________________________________________________________________
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
THIRD DISTRICT
A.D., 1998
| IN RE MARRIAGE OF DEBORAH ALMQUIST, Petitioner-Appellant, and FRANK ALMQUIST, Respondent-Appellee. | Appeal from the Circuit Court of the 12th Judicial Circuit, Will County, Illinois No. 96--D--1407 Honorable Robert C. Lorz Judge, Presiding |
_________________________________________________________________
Modified Upon Denial of Rehearing
JUSTICE BRESLIN delivered the opinion of the court:
_________________________________________________________________
Respondent, Frank Almquist, filed a petition for adjudication of indirect criminal contempt alleging that the petitioner, Deborah Almquist, failed to comply with the trial court's order granting him limited telephone visitation with their only child, H.A. The court granted the petition and sentenced Deborah to two years of court supervision. Because we hold that the playing of an audio tape in the background during a telephone conversation does not constitute a "conversation" as defined in the Illinois eavesdropping statute (720 ILCS 5/14--1 et seq. (West 1996)), we affirm.
FACTS
Frank and Deborah Almquist were married in 1989. Their daughter, H.A., was born in 1991. In 1996, Deborah filed a petition for dissolution of marriage. The trial court granted temporary custody of H.A. to Deborah. Subsequently, Frank requested and received telephone visitation with H.A. The order gave Frank the right to telephone visitation with H.A. every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday evening.
On May 27, 1997, Frank filed a petition for adjudication of indirect criminal contempt alleging Deborah failed to comply with the court order concerning telephone visitation. At the hearing on the petition, Frank testified he called Deborah's home at 8 p.m. on Monday, May 12, 1997, but was never allowed to speak with H.A. Instead, Deborah attempted to engage Frank in argument. Frank testified he did not argue with Deborah, but continued to ask to speak to H.A.
Frank testified he called H.A. on May 15, 1997. During their conversation, a recording was played at high volume in the background. Frank recognized the recording as his "suicide tape." He explained that the tape was a recording of his own voice he had made approximately 1