Court Opinion

ID: 3287360
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2016-07-05 17:02:26.634276+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:25:57.973012
License: Public Domain

I am of the opinion that there should be a hearing of this matter in this court. Regardless of other questions involved, it seems clear to me that our law does not require the shorthand reporter to furnish a transcript of the proceedings in a criminal case for the purposes of an appeal upon the demand of the appellant and without payment of fee, where the trial judge to whom application is made for an order requiring such a transcript expressly *Page 152 
rules that the appellant is not entitled thereto and denies the application therefor, and no order for such a transcript is made by the court to which the appeal is taken. To my mind the intent is clear to vest in the trial court the power to determine to what extent the appellant is entitled to a transcript of the reporter's notes for the purposes of an appeal, the expense of which, when properly ordered, is a county charge, with the right in the court to which the appeal is taken to order a further transcription, if deemed essential to the appellant's rights. It is only where the trial court fails to take any action for a specified time regarding appellant's application that the shorthand reporter may be required to furnish the transcript as demanded, the idea apparently being that such failure of the court to act shall be taken as assent to the application as made. Here the trial court acted, and expressly refused to order the transcript, ruling that appellant was not entitled thereto. And the reporter, who doubtless felt himself bound by the ruling of the superior court in the matter, is held guilty of a breach of statutory duty for not having disregarded such ruling, and is also penalized in costs. The law seems to provide in effect that the compensation of the reporter for such a transcription is to be paid from the county treasury only when the same is, at least in effect, ordered by a court, and I do not see how the reporter here could have received any compensation in this case had he proceeded in the face of the ruling of the court refusing the transcript.