WILLIAM CONYERS, JR., APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
The court addresses the systemic problem of court reporters failing to prepare trial transcripts in criminal appeals, preventing indigent defendants from filing appellate briefs. The court establishes a procedure appointing a circuit court judge as commissioner to investigate the court reporter's delay and recommend remedial action.
The court holds that a circuit court judge should be appointed as commissioner to receive testimony and evidence regarding the truth of allegations about the reporter's failure, make findings as to what portions of the transcript are pertinent to the collateral attack, and recommend what action the appellate court should take to ensure the transcript is prepared and filed as soon as reasonably possible.
“the failure or inability of court reporters to prepare transcripts for appellants in criminal cases in time to comply with the rules of the appellate courts. The failure of the appellants thus to file their records in time under the rules often leads to a dismissal of their appeals, while the appellants helplessly sit in their jail cells, unable to influence the reporters into a timely preparation of their records.”
Establishes the systemic problem the court is addressing regarding transcript preparation delays in criminal appeals.
Previewing 1 of 2 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAppellant Conyers was convicted in Volusia County Circuit Court and his motion to vacate the conviction was denied. Conyers' counsel filed a motion re…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Court Reporter Duties cases and more on FLexlaw
ON MOTION TO REQUIRE COURT REPORTER TO PREPARE TRANSCRIPT
In this appeal from an order entered by the Circuit Court for Volusia County, Seventh Judicial Circuit, denying the appellant’s motion to vacate his judgment of conviction and sentence entered by that court, the appellant, through his attorney, has filed in this cause a motion requesting this court to enter an order directing a certain deputy official court reporter of the said circuit court to transcribe or cause to be transcribed on a date certain a transcript of the trial proceedings in this cause. .As grounds for such request the appellant alleges in his motion that his counsel “after diligent inquiry and entreaty of said Deputy Official Court Reporter has been unable to procure a transcript of the trial proceedings in this cause” and “because of the failure of said Deputy Official Court Reporter to furnish the undersigned with a transcript of the trial proceedings, the undersigned has been and is unable to file a brief on behalf of Appellant in accordance with the Order of this Court.”
The charges made by the appellant in his said motion against the deputy official court reporter involve one of the most troublesome matters in the administration of criminal justice in this state today — the failure or inability of court reporters to prepare transcripts for appellants in criminal cases in time to comply with the rules of the appellate courts. The failure of the appellants thus to file their records in time under the rules often leads to a dismissal of their appeals, while the appellants helplessly sit in their jail cells, unable to influence the reporters into a timely preparation of their records. On the other hand, the appellate courts are handicapped in solving this problem, for they usually have no means of ascertaining the truth concerning the reporter’s delay. Some delays by reporters may be justified by unavoidably heavy workloads, sickness, etc., but other delays are obviously not justified. A complication in this situation is the fact that a court reporter is technically not a party to the appeal, although he is regarded as an officer of the court, so that the usual procedure of drawing factual issues based upon the pleadings of the parties does not seem appropriate as a means of solving this dilemma. Under these circumstances we have determined upon the following procedure as proper and fair to all concerned in order to resolve the problem before us:
The Honorable Robert H. Wingfield, a judge of the said Circuit Court who entered the order appealed from herein, is appointed as a Commissioner to receive such testimony and evidence as may be necessary to determine the truth of the allegations in the appellant’s said motion, and to report the same, together with his findings and recommendations, to this Court. Both the said deputy official court reporter and the appellant’s said attorney shall be given a full opportunity to present such testimony and evidence. The Commissioner shall include among his recommendations to this Court a recommendation as to what action, if any, this Court should take in order to assure that the transcript of trial proceedings shall be prepared and filed in this cause as soon as reasonably possible.
In rendering this opinion and order we are not unmindful of the rule which we recognized in Hall v. State, 165 So.2d 428, 430 (Fla.App.1964), that an indigent person who appeals from an order denying his motion to vacate pursuant to Criminal Procedure Rule No. 1 is not entitled to *823a complete transcript of the trial proceedings, hut “is entitled, of course, to be furnished with a transcript of all proceedings pertinent to the collateral attack under the rule * * To the same effect see Harris v. State, 161 So.2d 885 (Fla.D.C.A.1st, 1964) and Gilliard v. State, 171 So.2d 902 (Fla.D.C.A.2d, 1965). In view of this rule we think that in the case at bar it would be appropriate for the Commissioner to make findings and recommendations in his report to this court as to what portions of the trial transcript are pertinent to this appeal and thus what portions the official deputy court reporter should be required to prepare.
CARROLL, DONALD K., Acting C. J., and RAWLS and JOHNSON, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Cassoday v. State, 237 So. 2d 146 (Fla. 1970)…cted or concerned in the event he seeks an appeal from an adverse ruling. Harris v. State, 161 So. 2d 885 (Fla.App.1st, 1964); Hall v. State, 165 So. 2d 428 (Fla.App.1st, 1964); Gilliard v. State, 171 So. 2d 902 (Fla.App.2d, 1965); Conyers v. State, 200 So. 2d 821 (Fla.App.1st, 1967). The petitioner does not allege that the trial transcript is pertinent to any pending appeal from the judgment of conviction or from an order denying a motion for post-conviction relief. In Gardner v. California, 393 U.S. 367,…
-
Conyers v. State, 202 So. 2d 191 (Fla. 1st DCA 1967)…ing of his motion to require the official deputy court reporter to prepare and file the transcript of the trial proceedings in this cause, this court entered an order.on July 11, 1967, as revised by our order of August 1, 1967, reported in Fla.App., 200 So. 2d 821, appointing the sentencing judge as a commissioner to take evidence as to the truth of the allegations of the appellant’s motion, to make findings of fact, and to recommend appropriate action on the motion. Pursuant to his commission the commission…
Authorities Cited
- Hall v. State, 165 So. 2d 428 (Fla. 1st DCA 1964)
- Harris v. State, 161 So. 2d 885 (Fla. 1st DCA 1964)
- Gilliard v. State, 171 So. 2d 902 (Fla. 2d DCA 1965)