While Indiana was still mostly a roughhewn wilderness, forward-looking citizens of Jennings County were far-sighted enough to create the first public park dedicated to children in the county seat of Vernon—in 1815, one year before Indiana became a state.
Continuing with that kind of visionary thinking, the Jennings County judiciary has installed state-of-the-art court reporting equipment that will provide for speedier justice and more reliable recordings of vital court proceedings.
While court reporting equipment may seem like a mundane expenditure that could easily be dispensed within tight budgetary times, it is actually a key but hidden cost of justice that supports our legal system. Indiana’s court rules require that an appeal of any trial court decision be accompanied by a written transcript of the proceeding in question, which often includes the entire trial or a multi-day hearing.
Critical to the creation of that transcript is an audible recording of the day’s testimony. A court reporter must be able to listen to the recording and type out a transcript in a format acceptable to the appellate courts.
Like many counties, the two courts in Jennings County were operating with outdated and often unreliable recording equipment.
“At one time we had to close down and move to our auxiliary courtroom because the technology was not working,” recalled Jennings Superior Court Judge Gary L. Smith.
Both Judge Smith and Jennings Circuit Judge Jon W. Webster turned to the Supreme Court’s Division of State Court Administration for funding of replacement systems.
Since 2008, State Court Administration has operated the Court Reform Grant program, designed to provide funding to help courts try out innovative technologies and procedures to improve the way courts deliver justice. Since its inception, the Court Reform Grant program has distributed over $480,000 to 12 counties for a variety of projects including unified court administration, multi-jurisdictional problem-solving courts, court performance measurement, upgrades in jury management systems, court reporting equipment, and technological infrastructure.
In the summer of 2009, Jennings Circuit Court was awarded $17,527 to purchase an FTR (“For The Record”) recording system, while Jennings Superior Court was given $12,473 and bought a recording system from BIS Digital to be used by Superior Court reporters Freda Neff and Delma Harmon.
“It is a huge improvement for us and, of course, the County Council was thrilled because they didn’t have to cover the costs. It was long past due,” said Judge Webster of the 1984 system they had used prior to the purchase and installation of the FTR system.
A key advantage of the new system is its digital format. Gone are the days when a court report would load a cassette tape and turn it on. Now the recording is kept in a digital format on a disc or a hard drive. The material can be stored in a much more manageable way. Instead of storing boxes and boxes of cassette tapes, the digital recordings can be kept in a regular desk drawer or small filing cabinet.
Because the equipment is more efficient, the transcripts for an appeal can also be prepared more quickly. While this may not seem to matter, time is often of the essence when the well-being of a child is at risk or for other time-sensitive court matters.
The judges both acknowledged that their staffers had some trepidation about the new equipment.
“There was some apprehension at first (for Circuit Court’s court reporters, Linda Buchanan, Marnita Richart, and Tiona Sullivan) because it was new, but once they started using it, they liked it,” said Judge Webster.
Buchanan, who has seen several generations of court reporting equipment during her 32-year career, is even more emphatic. “I love it!”
Both courts have agreed to participate in a pilot project with State Court Administration. While current court rules require written transcripts to be produced for appellate court review, the pilot project will determine if an audio transcript would be sufficient. A second option for the pilot project would be to provide a full audio-only recording to the appellate court and to require transcripts of only the specific parts of the trial or hearing at issue, rather than the entire case. The Jennings County courts will join five other courts in the court reporting pilot project.
Court Reform Grant Funds are available to assist courts in a district or county in assessing their organization and also for helping implement recommended improvements. Applicant courts will identify a particular problem they want to solve, reform they want to achieve, or a general belief that the district/county would benefit from an objective assessment of the current organization, management, and processes and identification of best practices. Upon request, the Division of State Court Administration will work with courts to develop grant applications and with the grant recipients to select an organization to perform the requested area of study. Thereafter, the grant recipient will need to apply for a second grant to help implement the recommendations. Recipients of the initial study grants with successful studies will have preference for subsequent implementation grants.
Judges may apply for these grants by June of each year by submitting an application to the Division of State Court Administration. Proposed projects must engage the majority of judges in the district or county. We strongly recommend collaboration with and input from the court clerks and the local bar. The court reform grants target three broad areas, which are listed in the order of priority: governance and efficiency efforts at a district level; governance and efficiency efforts at the county level; and innovative programs and technologies at either district or county level.
And that park in Vernon? Called “the Vernon Commons” by locals, it is on the east side of the square near the courthouse on the Muscatatuck River and still used regularly by Jennings County families.