Opinion ID: 2218836
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reporting Kraker's testimony at trial.

Text: Before Kraker testified at trial, an attorney representing T.J. asked that the magistrate permit a privately hired court reporter to report Kraker's testimony. Kraker's counsel objected to the request, claiming T.J.'s counsel was attempting to circumvent the discovery rules of civil procedure. The magistrate permitted the reporter to report Kraker's testimony from the back of the courtroom. Kraker, in his posttrial motion for new trial, claimed the magistrate had committed prejudicial error by allowing a court reporter retained by T.J. to report only his testimony, thereby calling undue attention to his testimony and effectively shifting the burden of proof to him. The magistrate denied Kraker's motion. On appeal, Kraker argues T.J. was not a party; therefore she had no right to report any part of the trial. He urges the allowance of a reporter to make a record from the back of the courtroom gave the jury the impression that his testimony was to be given special emphasis or scrutiny. The magistrate did not err in allowing Kraker's testimony at trial to be reported by a shorthand reporter employed by T.J. This was a public trial. Iowa rules do not prohibit a private reporter from reporting testimony given in open court. There is no reasonable probability that a jury would give undue emphasis to testimony simply because it was being reported. There is no presumption of prejudice arising from the court's allowance of the reporting of Kraker's testimony by a reporter seated in the back of the courtroom. AFFIRMED.