Opinion ID: 2443482
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The recording and the transcript

Text: The tape recording of the appellant's statement is inaudible in places. Detective Sanders testified that a transcript of the tape had been made, and that it reflected what was on the tape, but did not include the inaudible portions. The appellant objected to the admission into evidence of the recording on the basis of its partial inaudibility and to the transcript on the basis of its inaccuracy. The judge admitted both. The appellant's argument on this point states simply that the inaudibility of the recording and the fact that the transcript has left out parts of the interview violate his right to due process of law accorded by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. No such constitutional argument was made to the trial court, and thus we will not consider it here. Chapin v. Stuckey, 286 Ark. 359, 692 S.W.2d 609 (1985). Nor do we find the admission of the transcript into evidence otherwise erroneous. The judge admonished the jury that the transcription was to be used only as an aid in understanding the recording. By comparing the recording with the transcript, the jury could ascertain the instances where the person who made the transcript omitted the inaudible portions of the statement. While we have some reservations about the fact that some of what the appellant said in the interview was not recorded, it is not a matter of great concern, as the audible portions of the recorded statement are essentially consistent with the appellant's testimony at the trial and state he killed the victims in self-defense. The transcript was an accurate representation of the audible portion of the recording. If the transcript is accurate, it is admissible if it would otherwise be necessary to play the tape several times for the jurors. Baysinger v. State, 261 Ark. 605, 550 S.W.2d 445 (1977).