Case Name: Clinton County v. Martin
Court: Supreme Court of Ohio
Jurisdiction: Ohio
Decision Date: 1901-11-19
Citations: 65 Ohio St. 287
Docket Number: 
Parties: Clinton County v. Martin.
Judges: Minshall, C. J., Williams, Burket, Spear, Davis and Shauck, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Ohio State Reports, New Service
Volume: 65
Pages: 287–288

Head Matter:
Clinton County v. Martin.
Defendant in criminal case — Entitled to allowance by county commissioners for legal fees paid stenographer in trial, when.
A defendant in a criminal case is entitled to have allowed by the county commissioners and paid out of the county treasury, the legal fees paid by him to the official stenographer or assistant for a necessary transcript of the shorthand notes taken on the trial of the cause.
(Decided November 19, 1901.)
Error to the Circuit Court of Clinton county.
The defendant in error was convicted of the crime of manslaughter in the Clinton county common pleas. The testimony given on the trial was taken by the official stenographer of the court and his assistant duly appointed for that purpose. In order to obtain a bill of exceptions and prosecute error the defendant procured the assistant stenographer to translate the shorthand notes of the testimony into long hand, and paid him therefor on his demand, the legal fees for such work, amounting to the sum of six hundred and seventy-five dollars. The error proceeding was successfully prosecuted, and, after the final disposition of the case the defendant presented to the commissioners of the county, for allowance and payment, his claim for the amount so paid the stenographer for the transcript; which claim the commissioners rejected. From that order of the commissioners Martin appealed to the court of common pleas, where judgment was rendered in his favor for the amount claimed, and interest. That judgment was affirmed by the circuit court, and error is prosecuted here on the ground that, under our statutes, the county is not liable.
Thorpe é Miller, for plaintiff in error.
Hays & Son and Sloan & Martin, for defendant in error.

Opinion:
By the Court :
The appointment of an official stenographer and assistant by the court of common pleas in counties of the class to which Clinton belongs, is authorized by sections 475 of the Revised Statutes. It is the duty of the stenographer, under section 479, to make transcripts into long hand of the shorthand notes taken in a cause, when requested by a party or his attorney. And the fees of the stenographer for making such transcripts in criminal cases are required, by section 480, to be paid out of the county treasury. When the fees -are paid by the defendant he is entitled to be reimbursed out of the county treasury. A proper way to obtain such reimbursement is to present the claim ' to the county commissioners for allowance, as provided by section 894; and, upon their refusal to allow the claim, to appeal to the court of common pleas, in accordance with section 896, as was done in this case.
Judgment affirmed.
Minshall, C. J., Williams, Burket, Spear, Davis and Shauck, JJ., concur.