Court reverses convictions of sexual assault, lewdness

CARSON CITY -- A Las Vegas man's convictions of lewdness and sexual assault of a minor have been reversed by the Nevada Supreme Court because secretly recorded telephone conversations were improperly admitted as evidence at his trial.

A three-member panel of the court, in a decision dated Friday, reversed the five counts of sexual assault and nine counts of lewdness for Gregory Fruit, the grandfather of the minor.

Fruit was sentenced to life with a chance of parole after 20 years on the assault convictions and to life with a chance of parole after 10 years on the lewdness convictions.

But the court said telephone conversations between the minor and her aunts were not recorded legally and should not have been played for a jury.

Because the court ruled the error was not harmless, it reversed the convictions and returned the matter to Clark County District Court.

The phone conversations were recorded by the parents of the minor. The calls were recorded for all incoming and outgoing conversations at the family's Colorado home.

The aunts were living in Nevada.

The parents did not obtain permission from the aunts or their child before recording the calls. The conversations included comments from the child accusing Fruit of sexual abuse.

Because the recordings were made in Colorado, the Nevada court said state law there governed the legality of the taping. Nevada law requires two-party consent to record a phone conversation unless there is an emergency.

Colorado law requires the consent only of one party, either the sender or receiver.

But the court said the parents did not obtain consent from either their daughter or the aunts.

The Clark County district attorney's office asked the court to accept an argument that the parents could consent to the taping on behalf of their minor child.

But the court refused to do so, saying the theory has not been accepted by the Colorado courts.

The court said the recordings were played five times at Fruit's trial.

Because the child recanted allegations of abuse at the trial, the improperly admitted recordings were the only time the jury heard her make the abuse allegations, the court said.

Prosecutors presented other evidence at trial, but the court said it could not conclude that the jury was unswayed by the recordings.