Title: Andrew Akins v. State of Arkansas

State: arkansas

Issuer: Arkansas Supreme Court

Document:

Andrew AKINS v. STATE of Arkansas

CR 96-352                                          ___ S.W.2d ___

                    Supreme Court of Arkansas
                 Opinion delivered May 27, 1997


Motions -- motion to direct trial court to appoint court reporter
     and to locate and transcribe record granted -- case remanded.
     -- Appellant's motion to direct the trial court to appoint a
     court reporter and to locate and transcribe the record was
     granted and the case remanded back to the trial court where
     the court reporter, upon being ordered to supplement the
     record, stated that the record could not be completed because
     one of the tapes was missing; the current court reporter was
     ordered to search through the tapes in storage until the
     recording of the missing hearing is discovered; in the event
     that the tape sought could not be located, the trial court was
     directed to conduct a hearing to attempt to settle the record
     on this issue; the trial court court reporter and counsel were
     given thirty days to accomplish this, and the trial court was
     directed to report its findings and conclusions on or before
     ten days from the expiration of the designated thirty-day
     period.


     Motion for Direction from Court or Motion to Appoint Court
Reporter to Locate and Transcribe Record; granted.
     Russell J. Byrne, for appellant.
     No response.
     Per Curiam.
     Appellant Andrew Akins filed a motion to supplement the record
in this case on August 1, 1996.  We granted the motion and issued
a writ of certiorari directed to the court reporter of the Chicot
County Circuit Court, returnable on October 9, 1996.  Pursuant to
the writ, a supplement to the record was filed together with a
letter from the court reporter, which noted that the record could
not be completed from the tapes of the court reporter who
transcribed the hearing.  Noticeably missing from the record is a
transcription of a June 1, 1991 probable cause hearing.
     Appellant now moves this court to grant his motion to direct
the trial court to appoint a court reporter and to locate and
transcribe the record.  Appellant asserts that the record of that
June 1991 proceeding is necessary to the issues on appeal. 
Attached to Appellant's motion is an affidavit filed by the Drew
County Circuit Clerk, Kay Craig, stating that she personally
searched through several boxes of tapes from the five counties,
including Chicot County, that comprise the Tenth Judicial District,
and discovered that there are several hundred tapes in storage. 
Ms. Craig stated that most of those tapes indicate which county
they are from and have some numerical indication of the year in
which they were heard.  The tapes do not, however, contain case
numbers or the names of defendants.  Ms. Craig stated that there
are approximately 500 tapes for Chicot County, which are stored in
an old unlighted jail cell.
     We hereby grant appellant's motion and we remand this case
back to the trial court and order the current court reporter to
search through the tapes in storage until the recording of the
June 1, 1991 hearing is discovered.  If the tape sought cannot be
located, the trial court is directed to conduct a hearing to
attempt to settle the record on this issue.  In the event either of
these options is not possible, the only recourse will be to grant
appellant a new trial.  The trial court court reporter and counsel
are directed to accomplish these matters within thirty days and the
trial court report its findings and conclusions regarding these
matters on or before ten days from the expiration of the designated
thirty-day period.