Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 10, 1994 TAG: 9402100145
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But don't start to think that Patterson, at age 68, is a fan of the high-tech age.
"When it comes to computers, you're talking to the wrong person," he said in his low, gravely drawl. "I don't know a thing about them."
No, the esteemed Richmond lawyer was using the computer out of necessity.
As he peered through the black spectacles on the end of his nose, Patterson - who can barely hear - could read a transcript of the trial happening in front of him.
Just think of it as courtroom closed captioning. Officially, it's called "real-time court reporting."
VMI's high-powered defense team hired Carl Girard, owner of Girard Reporting Inc. in Ashland, to provide it with instantaneous access to testimony in the trial this week.
Girard, from his work station beside the jury box, recorded the trial minutes into an electronic stenograph machine linked to a computer monitor beside him.
The computer translated the garbled shorthand into readable fashion and displayed the words on the screen.
"I'm about deaf, so it helps me out," Patterson said.
Girard said he could even use phone lines to transmit the courtroom happenings onto computer terminals outside the courtroom.
It may be useful, but it's not cheap.
Girard, 61, said his services cost VMI's defense team "a little less" than $50 an hour.
Marshall Jorpeland, communications director for the National Court Reporters Association, says real-time reporting was introduced in the late 1970s and has gained popularity in recent years.
"It's being used more and more as computers become cheaper, especially with the implementation of the American with Disabilities Act," he said.
Real-time translation has replaced traditional court reporting in more than 25 courtrooms around the country, Jorpeland said.
The media throng at the first day of the trial was so large that Judge Jackson Kiser agreed to let reporters sit in the jury box because the crowded courtroom wouldn't hold everyone.
"I bet counsel has never seen a tougher jury than that one," Kiser said after entering the courtroom.
It was a scene straight out of "Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood" as U.S. Marshal John Metzger gave instructions to the media before the trial. "Boys and girls, if you are sitting in the jury box, then you can't go [to the restroom] until the judge does," he said. "Do not bother the clerk during the break."
In addition to the local media, reporters from Richmond and Washington and a stringer for the New York Times were on hand.
by CNB