Magistrates will not have to take longhand notes for long, as the government plans to introduce digital recording by the third quarter of this year, according to Attorney General Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
Maynard-Gibson was replying to criticisms by members of the Criminal Bar Committee about the decision to pull stenographers from the lower courts, a recommendation by Inter-American Bank consultant Jennifer Leach.
When asked the Bar Bahamas Bar Association's position on digital recording, President Elsworth Johnson said the body did not support the implementation of digital recording because of problems encountered in other jurisdictions.
The Bar called a press conference yesterday to state its opposition to the removal of stenographers from the Magistrates' Courts.
Until last week, Courts 9, 10 and 11 still had court reporters, while other magistrates had to take written notes.
Jairam Mangra, who was also at the press conference, said he is in a trial where a recorded interview turned into a silent movie because of a technical malfunction.
Mangra said there would have been no evidence presented in the trial if there was not a written interview.
He said that was a "real world example of the vagaries of technology and we live in the real world".
Asked about the concerns about technological failures with digital recording, Maynard-Gibson said certain jurisdictions relied solely on digital recorders and the Bahamian government would learn from the problems encountered by other countries.
She said, "We are not going to reinvent the wheel. Digital recording works well in other jurisdictions and I'm sure those problems have been encountered before."
Maynard-Gibson said she was unaware of problems with producing a transcript when digital recorders were tested in the Stephen 'Die' Stubbs murder trial.
However, according to well-placed sources there would have been no record of the evidence if a stenographer was not present since most of the recording was inaudible.
The attorney general said the recordings would be stored in a database and transcribed on request. She said digital recorders would produce employment for transcriptionists and people to maintain the machines.
According to Maynard-Gibson, the recorders are able to provide automatic playback of disputed portions of evidence during trial.
She said that by law a magistrates' notes form the official record of the court.
When asked, Maynard-Gibson said she could not cite the relevant law offhand, adding she did not want to give misinformation.
Maynard-Gibson maintained that magistrates had no problem taking notes in the absence of stenographers, although The Guardian has spoken to magistrates who said that they are opposed to the decision.
The attorney general said stenographers would still be available in matters where the chief justice or chief magistrate determined they were needed.
Maynard-Gibson said in Grand Bahama most magistrates courts do not generally have court reporters. She said court reporting was just introduced to that island 10 years ago.
Johnson said that given the workload in the magistracy, the legibility of the magistrates' handwriting would decline as the day progressed.
Magistrates often hear up to 30 cases daily.
Johnson said the appellate court would be deprived of an official and independent record and instead would have to rely on the subjective notes taken by the court.
Stenographers in the magistrates' courts are certified to write 180 words per minute.

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