Opinion ID: 200736
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Admitting English Transcripts In Evidence

Text: 30 Once translation and transcription disputes have been addressed and the transcripts have been submitted to the jury for its use, parties using audio recordings in other languages should ensure that the English transcripts become part of the record by introducing them in evidence. 4 The English transcripts should be marked and admitted in evidence in addition to the wiretaps themselves. 5 The issue of jury instructions was not raised either at trial or on appeal and has not been briefed, so it is not before us. Nonetheless, in these circumstances hereafter, an instruction that the jury should consider only what is on the tape and not what is in the English transcript would not be appropriate. 31 Parties frequently, as here, use the transcripts only as aids and fail to admit them in evidence. The usual reason given for not introducing transcripts in evidence is that the wiretap tapes themselves are the best evidence of the conversation, not the transcripts. See, e.g., United States v. Warner, 204 F.3d 799, 801 (8th Cir.2000); Fed.R.Evid. 1002 (To prove the content of a writing, recording, or photograph, the original writing, recording, or photograph is required....). 32 The best evidence rule requires that the tape recordings themselves must be furnished, absent agreement to the contrary, but does not require that English translations of those tapes be excluded from evidence. Non-English recordings present unique problems of compliance with the Jones Act, which requires proceedings to be conducted in English. Accordingly, almost 20 years ago, this court approved the introduction in evidence of English transcripts for wiretaps of Spanish conversations, provided the reliability issues were worked out. Rengifo, 789 F.2d at 983. 6 The Eleventh Circuit reached the same conclusion about the admission in evidence of English transcripts of recorded conversations in Spanish in United States v. Cruz, 765 F.2d 1020, 1022-24 (11th Cir.1985), as did the Seventh Circuit in United States v. Jordan, 223 F.3d 676, 688 (7th Cir.2000). This practice of admitting reliable English transcripts in evidence is entirely consistent with the best evidence rule. The rationale behind the best evidence rule — that the [recording itself] is a more reliable, complete and accurate source of information as to its contents and meaning than anyone's description of it, Gordon v. United States, 344 U.S. 414, 421, 73 S.Ct. 369, 97 L.Ed. 447 (1953) — is not undercut when the original recording is played to the jury and the undisputedly accurate English transcript is admitted in evidence. See United States v. Holton, 116 F.3d 1536 (D.C.Cir.1997) (concerns addressed by the best evidence rule are not at issue in this situation). 33 Here, the government concedes that it committed error in failing to enter the English transcripts in the record. 34