Trial transcripts
Trial transcripts are written records of proceedings that take place in a courtroom, capturing the statements of lawyers, judges, and witnesses. These transcripts are primarily produced by court reporters, who use specialized equipment and training to create a verbatim account of everything said during a trial. While trial transcripts can be utilized during the trial itself—for instance, when a lawyer needs to challenge a witness based on previous testimony—they are most crucial for appellate courts. When a case is appealed, these courts rely on the trial transcript, along with other records, to evaluate whether any legal errors occurred during the original trial.
The cost of preparing a formal trial transcript can be substantial, often ranging from $1 to $7 per page, and the party appealing typically bears this expense. Access to trial transcripts is also a matter of legal significance; U.S. Supreme Court decisions have underscored the necessity of providing transcripts to indigent defendants to ensure their right to appeal is upheld. This emphasis on the importance of transcripts illustrates their vital role in the judicial process, ensuring fairness and transparency in legal proceedings.
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Trial transcripts
SIGNIFICANCE: Trial transcripts are used chiefly by appellate courts in evaluating whether errors have occurred in the trial courts in which the records were created.
A trial consists in the main of statements made by lawyers and the judge and of the questions asked of witnesses and the answers given by them. A court reporter normally records these matters as they are spoken and produces a formal trial transcript. With the benefit of special training and equipment, court reporters can produce a verbatim record of the words spoken in a proceeding.
Sometimes the transcript of the trial is used during the trial itself. For example, a lawyer cross-examining a witness might wish to confront the witness with statements made during direct examination. In these cases, the lawyer requests that the court reporter produce a transcript of the witness’s testimony so that the lawyer can present it to the witness and question the witness about it.
More commonly, however, the trial transcript is a key portion of the material considered by an appellate court when a case is appealed. On appeal, the appellate court does not conduct a trial again and hear the testimony of witnesses and the arguments of lawyers. Instead, the appellate court reviews what happened in the trial court to determine whether legal errors were made. The appellate court reviews the record of the trial, which includes the trial transcript, the evidence offered by the parties, and any official court documents filed with the trial court. Of these items, the trial transcript is normally the most important source for the appellate court to determine what happened during the trial.
Although the court reporter does not charge the parties in the case for transcribing the proceedings, the reporter does charge for making a formal transcript. This charge can be quite substantial, especially in cases that last for extended periods of time. The party wishing to appeal a case must normally shoulder the cost of having a transcript prepared, because the appellate court generally does not consider an appeal without a record (including the transcript) of the trial.
In at least some cases the U.S. Supreme Court has found that due process of law requires that indigent persons not be denied access to courts simply because they lack the financial resources to pay for a trial transcript. In Griffin v. Illinois (1956), for example, the Supreme Court determined that a state must furnish a free trial transcript for indigent criminal defendants if the transcript is necessary for appellate review. Similarly, in M.L.B. v. S.L.J. (1996) the Court ruled as unconstitutional a state law that prevented a parent from appealing the termination of parental rights to a child unless the parent paid for a record of the termination proceedings. In M.L.B. these costs amounted to $2,352.36. As of the early 2020s, the cost of a trial transcript was typically $1 to $7 per page.
Bibliography
Bergman, Paul.Transcript Exercises for Learning Evidence. St. Paul, Minn.: West Publishing, 1992.
Coffin, Frank M. On Appeal: Courts, Lawyering, and Judging. New York: W. W. Norton, 1994.
Del Carmen, Rolando V. Criminal Procedure: Law and Practice, 10th ed. Cengage, 2016.
Emanuel, S. L. Criminal Procedure, 30th ed. Wolters Kluwer Law and Business, 2013.
"How Much Do Court Transcripts Cost?" Speak Write, 13 Mar. 2023, speakwrite.com/blog/court-transcripts-cost/. Accessed 10 July 2024.