State v. Rankin

• Decision Date: 05 October 1982
• Docket Number: No. 179A81,179A81
• Citation: 306 N.C. 712,295 S.E.2d 416
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina v. Ralph RANKIN.
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court

Page 416

295 S.E.2d 416

306 N.C. 712

STATE of North Carolina v. Ralph RANKIN.

No. 179A81.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Oct. 5, 1982.

Atty. Gen. Rufus L. Edmisten by Asst. Attys. Gen. Archie W. Anders and Thomas B. Wood, Raleigh, for the State.

Asst. Appellate Defender Malcolm R. Hunter, Jr., Raleigh, for defendant-appellant.

COPELAND, Justice.

Our review of the factual circumstances of this record and the law applicable thereto discloses prejudicial error requiring a new trial.

Defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion for a free transcript of the record. The motion was denied 6 August 1981 as not timely made. In support of the contention, defendant relies on Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226, 92 S.Ct. 431, 30 L.Ed.2d 400 (1971) in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that indigents were to be provided free transcripts of prior proceedings if the trial court determines it necessary for an effective defense. (Emphasis added.) In Britt supra, the Court extended the scope of its holding in Griffin v. Illinois, 351 U.S. 12, 76 S.Ct. 585, 100 L.Ed. 891 (1956), which had provided to indigents a free transcript if necessary for an effectual appellate review. (Emphasis added.)

The effect of Britt v. North Carolina, supra, is to make available to an indigent defendant those tools available to a solvent defendant which are necessary for preparing an equally effective defense. That purpose, founded on the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, has been frustrated in this case. A solvent defendant would have been free to attempt a purchase of the transcript which might be prepared in time for trial. And even if the transcript had not been prepared the solvent defendant could have asked for a continuance which we believe the trial judge would have found hard to deny. However this defendant, denied any opportunity to receive a transcript, was severely handicapped by the court's offer of only limited access to the court reporter and her notes for use during the course of the trial. Thus, if the defendant was entitled to a free transcript, the court's ruling prevented him from having the same opportunity to receive a transcript which could have been available to a solvent defendant. As Justice Black stated in Griffin, "There can be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has." Griffin, 251 U.S. at 19, 76 S.Ct. at 591, 100 L.Ed. at 899.

In a case where the second trial has not even been rescheduled, denial of defendant's motion as being untimely is improper because such a holding could only have been based on speculation. The district attorney had hoped to try this case within four weeks of the time of the hearing but it was in fact not tried for more than seven weeks. Unfortunately, such delays are common in our overcrowded courts and, as in this case, may very well have provided enough time for this defendant to receive a fully prepared stenographic transcript. At any rate it certainly was within the judge's power to delay the trial until the transcript had been prepared.

Under Britt, supra, a free transcript need not always be provided. Instead, availability is determined by the trial court through the implementation of a two step process which examines (1) whether a transcript is necessary for preparing an effective defense and (2) whether there are alternative devices available to the defendant which are substantially equivalent to a transcript. Britt, supra. If the trial court finds there is either no need of a transcript for an effective defense or there is an available alternative which is "substantially equivalent" to a transcript, one need not be provided and denial of such a request would not be prejudicial. Britt, supra.

By ruling that defendant's motion was untimely, the trial court did not have to make findings of fact on the issue of need. However, the court indicated that upon a timely request, defendant would have been entitled to a free transcript. After reviewing the record we agree that the defendant was entitled to either a free transcript or its substantial equivalent.

As for the second step of the Britt, supra, analysis, concerning alternatives substantially equivalent to a transcript, we find the judge's offer to make the court reporter available to the defense during trial clearly insufficient. In a case very similar in facts to the one at hand, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a similar offer as, "too little, too late" and "a breeder of delay and confusion." United States ex rel. Wilson v. McMann, 408 F.2d 896, 897 (2d Cir. 1971). As was the case in Britt, supra, the facts of this case are very important in determining whether the defendant needs a transcript in order to prepare an effective defense. However, unlike the circumstances in Britt, supra where the court found no reversible error because the reporter was available to read his notes of the record back to the defendant's counsel long before the second trial, giving counsel for the defendant the opportunity to use them in preparing his...