Opinion ID: 2291635
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Transcript of Appellant's taped confession

Text: For his sixth point on appeal, Appellant asserts that the trial court erred by allowing a transcript of his taped confession to be given to jurors to read while the tape was being played. At trial, Appellant objected to giving the jury the transcript to read. The objection was overruled and the transcript was given to the jury, but not proffered into evidence. While the transcript is not included in the record, Appellant concedes that there were no material misrepresentations in the transcript that would prejudice him. Appellant offers no convincing argument or authority for his assertion that it was error to allow the jurors to read the transcript while listening to the recording of his statement. In fact, he cites to our case law in which we have upheld the use of a transcript alongside a recording that may be difficult to understand. See Leavy v. State, 314 Ark. 231, 862 S.W.2d 832 (1993). He admits that, if the audio tape had been played without the transcript, it would have been necessary to play the recording several times in order to ensure the jurors' understanding of the statement. We have held, even in capital cases, that where the party fails to cite to authority or fails to provide convincing argument, we will not consider the merits of the argument. Springs v. State, 368 Ark. 256, 244 S.W.3d 683 (2006).