Judge allows e-mail evidence in N.H. dog-drowning case

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – A judge has reversed her decision in a dog-drowning case and will allow e-mails between two women accused of killing the animal to be used in their trials.

Rockingham County Superior Court Judge Tina Nadeau had previously ruled that the e-mails between Shannon Walters of Newmarket and Erin Wylie of Portsmouth were inadmissible because they had been intercepted by a neighbor in the duplex where Walters lived.

Walters’ computer had software that recorded keystrokes on the computer. The computers shared a common network.

But in a recent decision, Nadeau ruled in favor of the prosecution, which argued in a follow-up motion that the e-mails didn’t qualify as the type of telecommunications governed by the wiretap law. Prosecutors had not made this argument in the court hearing, Nadeau wrote.

“We thought her original decision was wrong, so we’re glad she took another look at it,” said Rockingham County Attorney Jim Reams.

Walters and Wylie have been charged with plotting to steal and kill Dewey, a dachshund belonging to Wylie’s former boyfriend, Pat Collins. Authorities say Wylie had been jealous of the attention he paid to the dog. Walters is scheduled to face trial on Sept. 12, Wylie on Oct. 24.

Each could face a maximum of 51 years in prison if convicted of all charges against them, including felony animal cruelty.

Prosecutors allege the two defendants stole the pet from Collins’ Eliot, Maine, home, put it in plastic bag, drove to Wylie’s home in Portsmouth, then drowned it in a bathtub. The women also face charges in Maine of allegedly stealing property from Collins’ home.

Police say the e-mail correspondence between Walters and Wylie led them to find the dead dog in Walters’ truck in 2004.

In June, Nadeau had granted a motion by the defense to throw out the e-mails, citing state law banning unconsented wiretap.

A month earlier, Traci York, Walters’ neighbor, testified that she had been able to obtain Walters’ Internet password by looking at a shared computer folder. This contained files created by using software that recorded the keystrokes.

York found what looked like Walters’ Internet password and used it to find e-mails between Walters and Wylie regarding the drowning and setting up of a meeting to dispose of the dog’s body.

York testified that she took the e-mails to another neighbor, who tipped off police.

Walters’ attorney, Phil Desfosses, had argued that York had illegally intercepted the e-mails.

In its argument, the state said the keylogger program did not record any telecommunications transmitted through a communications common carrier, and so, did not constitute an intercept.

“Thus, the issue of whether the keylogger program captured a telecommunication is before the court for the first time,” Nadeau wrote. “Had this issue been raised in the state’s previous pleadings, the court’s initial decision would have been different.”

“Although the keylogger program captures keystrokes on the host computer as they are typed, there was no evidence to establish that Walters’ e-mail password or any of the e-mails were acquired or recorded as they were being transferred by a communications common carrier via wire, cable or other means,” she wrote.

Because the e-mails can now be admitted at trial, Nadeau also allowed Walters’ confession to police.