One of the many problems I have with
courtroom dramas (let me count the ways! and I probably will, as time
goes along) is that they ignore court reporters. They're there, taking
notes, saying nothing, and vanish whenever anything happens. And yet they're a pivotal, important part
of any court.
Now,
I admit I don't know how it's done in New York City, but in smaller
cities and rural areas, every judge has his/her own personal court
reporter. These are long-lasting relationships - some for decades. Always symbiotic; sometimes strange;
usually very professional; sometimes not; and once in a while the
kind to make any court administrator wake up in a cold sweat, with the
words "sexual harassment law suit" running through their minds. And court reporters are human beings, too: I remember one court reporter who started dating one of the witnesses, surreptitiously, who later turned out to be heavily involved with the drug-dealing defendant. That got wild and wooly: the court reporter got shot one night, and the only reason the court reporter wasn't fired was that the judge used all of his considerable clout to prevent it.
Judges will use their clout to protect their court reporter, because one of the
worst things that can happen to a judge, other than being caught in a motel
room with a minor the day before elections, is to lose their court reporter of
long-standing. This is hell for a couple of reasons: (1) most judges depend on the court
reporter to keep track of everything for
them and (2) they're going to have to break in a new court reporter,
and no one - let me repeat, NO ONE - wants to be around while that's going on. (http://www.stus.com/stus-cartoon.php?name=Court+Reporter&cartoon=blg5807) There's also
the problem of getting transcripts, but we'll get to that in a minute.
It's the court reporter who makes sure that the judge's life runs smoothly. First
of all, he/she keeps the judge's calendar. That's a lot of clout right
there. You want an early hearing? Or a delay? Does the court
reporter like you? Know you from Adam's off ox? Let's just say that any smart attorney keeps in very
good with the court reporter. (Note this website about "gifting" - http://promotionholdings.com/legal/court-reporter-gifting-and-lawyer-ethics/ Not that it happens very often, of course.) By the way, when the judge calls everyone into his/her chambers for some reason? The court reporter is there. When the judge goes golfing? Court reporter often goes along. When the judge is in chambers, thinking? The court reporter is the guard dog on the threshold.
Other things on a court reporter's plate: making sure the
courthouse is set up to
the judge’s personal specifications. There's a whole list of things, from
proper beverage on - or under - the bench, to the various requirements of
life in the judges' chambers. Hint: When the court reporter tells you the judge wants M&Ms or Diet Seven-Up or only blue pens, get it before the fit is pitched.
Often the court reporter
is also the judge's chauffeur, driving them to and from court (and here in South Dakota, that could be a considerable distance for a traveling judge). Court reporters are also secretaries, valets, servants... There's a wide range of duties.
Oh, and yes, they also take notes. Either the very old fashioned way by hand (Bogie
movies),
or the old fashioned way (stenotype machine), or the new paperless way.
Now the court reporter is hired by the state or the federal government (depending on judge’s level); but the
government doesn’t pay for the court reporters’
equipment (which costs about $4,500). This means that while the court reporter is
paid for taking down the hearing or trial in court, the actual notes technically
belong to the court reporter, and he/she is paid again for actually
transcribing them. “Double-dipping!”
claim the accountants. “Pay for our
equipment!” cry the court reporters.
“No way in hell!” scream the bureaucrats. And the situation continues. By the way, in case you're wondering, transcripts currently cost around $2.00-$2.50 a page, or $1.25 a minute of court time,
whichever costs more. A court reporter who
works for an active judge can make a pretty good living. It's the
free-lancers who are often close to starving...
Let's talk for a minute about the records. The old
stenotype machines have only gone the way of the dinosaurs
fairly recently. They produced a
stack of paper, about 3 inches by eternity, on which the transcript is coded; this
code is in shorthand, and each court reporter had his/her own shorthand on top
of that. It could be very hard for one court
reporter to read another court reporter’s notes. (And that wasn't entirely by accident: it's called job security.)
In the old days, the court reporter would read the paper tape and type
it on a typewriter. Then a computer. And, finally, software was
developed that could take
those notes and format them into a word processing mode, but, since this requires
translation from the shorthand, even this gets tricky. For example, the words “their”, “there”,
“they’re” and “the air” are all coded exactly the same. So the court reporter has to both program the software to match his/her shorthand, and also remember what
was actually said in the hearing.
Sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they're not around because they're retired. Sometimes they're dead.
And that's when it gets tricky. Because
not all court notes get/got transcribed right away, or soon, or at all. Think of all the hearings and trials that are held every day in every town and city: they don't get transcribed unless they're specifically asked for. Joe Blow pleads guilty to a DUI and gets sentenced to, say, a year's probation and time served
. Jill Smith gets caught robbing a casino, and gets 2 years. There's
a dispute over the construction of a driveway that goes to trial. (I
remember congratulating the judge on his ability to sleep with his
eyes open on that one.) There's a jury trial about a possible child abuse case, and the person is acquitted.
Or one in which they're found guilty. The paper is there, on
tape, on record - but it may or may not ever be transcribed, because
the real reason for transcription is a
dispute over the verdict. That doesn't always happen. Or at least, not
right away. In my days with the circuit court, I
remember seeing stacks and stacks and stacks of tapes, dated and
semi-labeled, that had never been transcribed, and probably never would
be.
Unless... And what if...
