A criminal case in Georgia against a former nursing home worker will hinge on whether a video recorded in a resident’s room without the facility’s permission is legal and can be used against the accused.

The case centers around the 2014 death of an 89-year-old resident at the Northeast Atlanta Health & Rehabilitation Center. The resident had allowed his son to place a hidden video camera — a so-called granny cam — in his room after complaining about his care at the facility. Video allegedly shows the resident calling for help after not being able to breathe and the workers failing to respond. The resident died soon after. Three workers face criminal charges in the case, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In October, the Georgia Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case against Wanda Nuckles, one of the three charged workers and a former licensed practical nurse. Nuckles has appealed previous rulings that have allowed the prosecution to use the video. Legal representation for Nuckles has argued that the decision to use the secret video against the workers could set a bad precedent in the state and allow people to make videos of others, in any setting, without their consent. 

On the opposing side, the prosecution has maintained that the footage is crucial for the case and said it would not have been able to charge the workers without it. It also has argued that state law allows the secret video to be used.

The Georgia Health Care Association, while calling the actions in the video “appalling,” argued that allowing the video to be used in the case could create “an environment of eavesdropping in all facets of health care and other aspects of our daily lives.” It filed an amicus brief in support of the argument put forward by Nuckles.