Opinion ID: 853446
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Admission of the Videotape Transcript

Text: Roby's lawyer did not object when the trial court admitted into evidence a transcript of his videotaped statement to the police, but did object when the court published copies of the transcript to the jury. At that time, the court admonished the jury: Now, the real exhibit is going to be the videotape of the interview. This also has an audio on it. This exhibit is simply an assistance to you, each of you, while you are listening to the audiotape to assist you in hearing and understanding what is being said. Again, I have to remind you that somebody else sat down and played it and took down and created a transcript that you have in your hand. It may be very accurate. There may be mistakes in it, not just typos but wrong words or something. If you think you hear something different, you are to go by what you think you hear, not by what is printed by somebody else. (R. at 556.) We recently addressed a very similar claim in Tobar v. State, 740 N.E.2d 106 (Ind.2000). In Tobar, the trial judge allowed jurors to refer to transcripts when viewing the defendant's videotaped statements, after a similar admonition. Tobar, 740 N.E.2d at 107. We concluded that the admission of the transcripts was error, but harmless. Id. at 108-09. In Bryan v. State, 450 N.E.2d 53 (Ind.1983), this Court outlined the appropriate standard for the use of transcripts of taped statements at trial. Transcripts are usually needed only when portions of a tape are inaudible or speakers are difficult to identify, and they should not ordinarily be admitted into evidence unless both sides stipulate to their accuracy and agree to their use as evidence. Bryan, 450 N.E.2d at 59 (quoting United States v. McMillan, 508 F.2d 101 (8th Cir.1974)). In Small v. State, 736 N.E.2d 742, 748-49 (Ind.2000), the defendant did not explicitly agree to the admission of a transcript that the jurors read as they viewed the defendant's videotaped statement to police. There, as here, defense counsel objected only on grounds that the transcript was cumulative, not that it was inaccurate or otherwise improperly admitted. Id., (R. at 555). Nonetheless, we concluded that the admission was error, noting that the transcript was not used solely as an aid in interpreting inaudible portions of the recording. Id. Similarly, here, the State does not contend that the transcript was necessary to clarify indistinct dialogue on the videotape. The trial court therefore erred in admitting the transcript and publishing it to the jury. The trial court thus erred, but as in Small and Tobar the transcript was merely cumulative, and its admission does not require reversal. See Small, 736 N.E.2d at 749; Tobar, 740 N.E.2d at 108-09. Roby argues that the duplicative evidence of the videotape and transcript unduly emphasized his statement, particularly in light of the fact that no direct evidence linked him to Shawn's death. (Appellant's Br. at 15.) We disagree. As in Small and Tobar, it is unlikely that admission of the transcripts affected the verdict. The trial court's admonition made clear to the jurors that they were only to use the transcript as a supplement, and to rely on the videotape as the real evidence. Moreover, it is hard to see how any undue emphasis would have prejudiced Roby's cause. In the taped statement, Roby claimed that Shawn fell while playing, and persistently denied having struck or killed the child. (R. at 830-31, 837-38, 839, 843, 846-47.) The prosecutor rebutted this version of events with uncontroverted medical evidence that Shawn suffered fatal blows at a time when Roby was the only adult present. The circumstantial evidence against Roby was so damaging that supplementing the videotape with the transcript could not have affected his substantial rights and was harmless.