Opinion ID: 1355360
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Commonwealth's interpretation of the audiotape.

Text: Appellant contends that testimony describing his interview violated the holding in Sanborn v. Commonwealth, 754 S.W.2d 534 (Ky.1988) (plurality opinion), that a party may not furnish the jury with its interpretation of an inaudible audiotape. Id. at 540-41. In Sanborn , the defense attorney disagreed with the Commonwealth's interpretation of twenty-five statements on the tape. Nevertheless, the trial court permitted the Commonwealth to furnish the jury with a written transcript of its interpretation of the inaudible tape with the Commonwealth's interpretation of the disputed portions highlighted in yellow. The trial court admitted the Commonwealth's transcript into evidence but did not allow the defendant any input. A plurality of this Court held that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the Commonwealth's transcript into evidence. Id. at 540. Appellant argues that the testimony of those who observed his interview was tantamount to the Commonwealth's transcript in Sanborn . We disagree. The situation here does not resemble that in Sanborn . Here, the court permitted the Commonwealth's witnesses to testify to what they observed, but the court did not endorse their testimony as did the trial court in Sanborn . Nor was Appellant denied input; the trial court permitted him to cross-examine all of the Commonwealth's witnesses. The witnesses were not interpreting an inaudible tape; rather, they were only relating what they, themselves, saw and heard. Clifford v. Commonwealth, 7 S.W.3d 371, 374 (Ky.1999).