State v. Nordskog

Citations

• 76 Wash. 472
• 136 P. 694
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1842

Syllabus

<p>Telegraphs and Telephones — Offenses—Damaging Telephone Lines — Wire Tapping. A professional wire tapper who tapped a telephone wire leading to a detective’s office, by attaching two fine wires to the cable wire in the cable box and connecting with a heavy wire to his apparatus, is not guilty of malicious mischief as defined by Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2656, providing that any person who wilfully or maliciously removes, damages or destroys any telegraph, telephone or electric transmission line shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, where the tapping did not injure or damage the wire or any property or interfere with the transmission of messages; since the physical invasion injuring the property is necessary to constitute the offense.</p> <p>Same — Offenses—Trial—Issues and Proof. A conviction of a wire tapper for malicious mischief, in removing or destroying a telephone wire, under Rem. & Bal. Code, § 2656, subd. 6, cannot be sustained by reference to Id., subd. 18, relating to intercepting, reading or delaying a telephone message, where there was no evidence to sustain that part of the charge.</p>