Serious question about courtroom procedure

[Alpo]

We have several lawyers here so maybe they will know.

The person speaking in the courtroom - a lawyer or a witness, either one - has a stutter or a stammer or a thick accent.

Does the court reporter take down exactly what the guy said --- "b-b-b-but I d-d-don't h-have a C-c-c-cadillac"?

Or does he leave out the stammering and write what the guy is trying to say --- but I don't have a Cadillac?

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

Have you been watching My Cousin Vinnie again?

I know you said you were serious, but I couldn't resist......

 

[Erich]

As an appellate attorney, I reviewed hundreds of trial transcripts. Answer is, "It depends." Sometimes they indicate the stammer by partially transcribing it, but in general they clean it up for coherency. BTW, some transcripts are audio, and these days a whole lof of computer-assisted transcribing is happening (with review by a person).

This is just an short answer to your question: things can (but only very rarely do) get kind of interesting with transcripts when there's disagreement as to the accuracy or a court reporter is unable to complete the transcript. I could jabber about that for an hour, but I am retired and inactive and no longer care to spend time on the subject.

If you are bored and want to read our state court annotated appellate rules governing transcripts to learn more: https://nmonesource.com/nmos/nmra/en/item/5673/index.do#12-211

 

[Muss Muggins]

We have several lawyers here so maybe they will know.

The person speaking in the courtroom - a lawyer or a witness, either one - has a stutter or a stammer or a thick accent.

Does the court reporter take down exactly what the guy said --- "b-b-b-but I d-d-don't h-have a C-c-c-cadillac"?

Or does he leave out the stammering and write what the guy is trying to say --- but I don't have a Cadillac?

It always helps to know why you want to know . . .

 

[Alpo]

Have you been watching My Cousin Vinnie again?

I know you said you were serious, but I couldn't resist......

Yes, that's what prompted the question.

I was on a jury many years ago and one of the lawyers had a stutter. I remember thinking that if I had a speech impediment I would not get a job where I had to talk for a living. His, however, was nowhere near as bad as that guy's in the movie.

 

[s&wchad]

 

[Pisgah]

There's such a thing as readability, and in some cases it takes a bit of cleaning up to achieve it without changing what was said. When we have, say, a Spanish-speaking witness, we transcribe the translation, not the original Spanish. Same sort of situation.

15 years a full-time Court Reporter, retired.

 

[Puller]

Stenographer; another job performed by humans soon to be replaced by AI.