Are there any court reporters here?? Can you mess with a transcipt??

[hang a left]

The reason I ask is because I requested a transcript from a hearing in which people that represent the government lied. I contacted the court reporter to request and buy the transcript and she will not return my calls.

It is kind of important.

[Maddy McCall]

1. File a FOIA request with your court.

Call the court clerk and ask for the records, and when you can pick them up. If that won't work, then file a FOIA request.

[hang a left]

3. Thanks Maddy

I am just concerned if she could distort the content as well. The government has lied and has some very sleazy investigators that like to break the law. I am suspicious of their every move.

[mike_c]

2. echoing Maddy's response-- call the court clerk....

The reporter isn't generally paid to deal with requests for records, only to provide them to the court. The court clerk should be the person responsible for making records available to the public.

[hang a left]

4. Actually, I have purchased a few transcripts in the past from

Court reporters. How it works, (How I am familiar with the process) is you inform the reporter of the case and date and time of the hearing; she then searches her tape. She will then give you the cost of transcription. You send or deliver the money. She transcribes the tape and you pick up two copies. One is an original the other a copy.

[stranger81]

5. Not a court reporter, but a lawyer, and can tell you that

court reporters employed directly by a court are notoriously slow not only in responding to phone calls, but also in preparing hearing transcripts. No, I wouldn't think the transcript would be altered, but you'll probably have to be persistent and leave a lot of clear messages on the court reporter's phone number to get her to return your call to place the order. There's probably also a small fee for the transcription.

What court are you trying to get a transcript from? If it's in CA, I might be able to give you more specifics.

Best of luck!!

[hang a left]

6. Funny...

That has not been my experience. I have purchased several court transcripts over the years. The can be very costly. I have paid up to $1800.00 for a transcript.

As I understand it; it is a money making side job for a court reporter. Not only does she collect her salary from the county but she earns extra money from transcription. I have never had such a difficult time in attempting to communicate with a court reporter. Perhaps there is something else at play.

You are an attorney? Curious as to which type of law you practice.

[stranger81]

8. Yes, if the transcript is lengthy, it can get expensive . . . .

You're exactly right about how the reporter gets paid (so their incentive to do it, and do it quickly, can vary widely). I think it just depends on the particular court you're trying to contact (their docket levels can be very different) and what happens to be going on in the particular department the reporter you're trying to contact is in (if they're in a two-week trial and going full days, for instance, you may not hear back for a while).

I'm a patent litigation attorney. It's abstract and fun, and lets me get paid to keep up with technology :-)

[hang a left]

10. Hey stranger

I am in a court that functions with a very devious District Attorney's office. I do not trust them one bit. Even one of the defense attorneys assigned to the case has asked my not to mail ANY documents but to transport them personally. This is a lawyer that has practiced for 30 years in the same court. He is very distrustful of the "man" there.

I am glad you are getting paid and are happy ;)

[puebloknot]

12. Yes, you are correct. Official reporters in a court are paid...

...a salary for being there and taking the testimony down, usually using a Stenograph machine. Then they are paid an additional page rate for producing the transcript.

For depositions, reporters are paid a per diem appearance fee, and a page rate in addition.

I've worked in this field for 30 years as an editor/trainer -- not a reporter.

Reasons for not returning a call can be anything from laziness and incompetence to a reporter's being so overwhelmed (maybe in the middle of a big trial) that your request just goes on their list of things to do. It's also possible the reporter is ill, and calling her court would help to determine that. You deserve a response from someone in authority. For instance, I train people to do computerized-editing of transcripts from reporters, from home, and I got a call from a reporter in California recently, asking for referrals to some of my clients because a reporter who had worked in that court was ill, and someone was needed to take over her not-yet-completed work. Something like that might be at play, so that's why you might want to get in touch of the head reporter in the court.


If there's urgency at your end, you can call the assignment reporter for the court, if it's a court case, or the attorneys involved if it's just a deposition.

You can also contact the state court reporter's association for the state in question, or the NCRA (National Court Reporters' Association) (www.ncraonline.org). The reporter may not belong to either, as membership in associations is voluntary, but they are certified in most states by the CSR board (Certified Shorthand Reporter) or CCR board (Certified Court Reporter) for their area. In some states, that's handled by the bar association.

Depending on whether there has been a requirement for a written transcript in the case in question, your fees for a trancript might vary. If the transcript has already been translated by software from steno into English, edited, certified and bound by the reporter, he/she should have a digital copy that they can easily reproduce. As to what they'll charge you for that "easy" project varies.

I hope this helps!

[hang a left]

14. WOW!!

Does that ever help!! I am saving your post for reference.

I cannot thank you enough!!

[hang a left]

15. just one more question...

Could or would a reporter alter the actual content of a transcript under the pressure of a DA's office.

[puebloknot]

17. See my post below.

We can discuss this by phone if it's urgent and I can be of help.

Court reporters are generally honorable people. Court reporters are people! :)

[Robbien]

7. Have you tried to see if the court has an on-line site?

There are also online sites which provide online court transcripts.

[hang a left]

9. Hi Robbien

No they do not. The have minimal information online. You really have to pay for a court reporters transcription to access the information I need.

[Robbien]

11. Hi back Hang a Left

:hi:

I wouldn't be too worried about the transcripts being altered. In my non-legal experience, if the transcript is controversial, they usually just make the transcript harder to obtain.

By the way, did you see that the bottom feeder poster from last night got tombstoned? I alerted the mods to his many nasty comments and see today his slimy comments are all gone.

[hang a left]

13. No way!

I did see that his comments were deleted but I had no idea he got the death penalty.

Ha ha. What a jerk.

Thanks a bunch.

[puebloknot]

16. The official story is that a transcript is the verbatim record of what took place...

...in a hearing. (I've worked in the field for 30 years.)

You've heard that expression "There's many a slip twixt the cup (read that "steno record") and the lip"?

I was involved in a personal case years ago (drunken, crazy landlord) in which the judge (who had recently been removed from a criminal bench to a civil court because of his outrageous behavior) made an outlandish comment about what I must have done (being a woman and all) to invite the complained-about behavior.

By golly, when the official trancript came out, the cute little court reporter, a female herself, had removed said comment.

There's a lot more I could say about whether a transcript can be tampered with, and how. Get in touch privately if you'd like to discuss it.

One thing that's changed in recent years is that there is very often a videographer in the courtroom now. So although the court reporter's transcript stands as the official record, it may be possible to get your hands on a videotape, if one was made.

In addition, steno machines now have a built-in digital recorder, and the written steno is therefore not the only record. However, reporters make the claim that the audio is their "work product," and serves as a tool to help in creating the official transcript, and is nobody's business but the reporter's. Methinks there are going to be more and more challenges to that point of view!

Just take it up with the White House if you think the secrecy I just described above is not in the best interest of We the People!

[hang a left]

18. Thank you so much puebloknot

I am taking in all of your knowledge. I will find out if there in fact was video.

The state has broken so many laws on this case already. One of the defense attorneys is well aware of how they operate. I would not put anything past them.

[puebloknot]

19. There are three possibilities:

You might be able to get the actual video, if one was made. I don't know the protocol of getting a copy. This is not a legal opinion, but our trials (unless they're sealed by a judge -- juvenile cases, for example) are supposed to be in the public domain. So if you have a legal right to purchase a transcript, maybe you have the same right to ask for a videotape or audiotape. Perhaps a subpoena would bring cooperation? The matter of steno machines also having a recording device is something that many reporters like to keep under raps.

Reporters often just ask the videographer for an *audiotape* of the proceedings, taken from the video, so they can make their steno record match it. Under pressure, you might get that.

You might be able to get a copy of the audio produced by the steno software, as the reporter is writing steno. In what I suspect would be dire circumstances, you could also possibly get the actual digital file of the court reporter's steno notes, and then get someone else -- another reporter or someone like me, who can read the steno, to look it over. It's just that once the reporter certifies the document as "verbatim," judges have often backed them up.

I don't know how serious your situation is, but getting your hands on other than the official record will entail a fight, most likely. And it doesn't necessarily mean a reporter is changing the record or has something to hide -- other than possibly be exposed as an incompetent, rather than deceitful, reporter. Reporters circle the wagons when one of their own is attacked (as they see it), because they don't want to see a precedent set for public scrutiny of the "Latin Mass" that mere citizens labor under.

Can you see that I have some less-than-admirable feelings about the way the record is made in courtrooms and deposition suites across the country? Except that I like to eat three times a day, I've thought of writing an expose of the field. Once I find a rich, old man to marry, I just might do it! :rofl:

[hang a left]

21. That is priceless.

I cannot thank you enough.

Really.

[puebloknot]

20. Forgot to ask: Are you an attorney, or a party to the case? nt

[hang a left]

22. I am family of the defendants nt.