Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Missing transcripts affect many cases

Officials at the Clark County courthouse are investigating whether missing court transcripts could undermine everything from child molestation and murder convictions to judgments in civil cases.

Authorities don't yet know how many cases may be affected, but District Court officials say Dina Dalton was the court reporter for criminal and civil proceedings in at least two courtrooms from April 1999 to March 2002.

Court Administrator Chuck Short confirmed that Dalton worked mainly in the courtrooms of District Judges Lee Gates and Michael Cherry during her time at the courthouse.

He said she could have also worked in other departments on occasion to cover for other reporters who were on vacation or leave.

The documents she was responsible for producing were never filed, however. Court officials said they were just informed about it earlier this week.

"We're trying to determine the scope" of the problem, Michael Sommermeyer, court spokesman, said Thursday. "We're looking into how many cases (Dalton) may have been involved with."

Trial transcripts in at least two criminal cases are missing: the cases of Garen Pearson, a former Little League coach who in 2001 was convicted of molesting seven boys, and Gregory Amato, who in 2002 was convicted of bludgeoning a man to death with a 13-pound rock.

James Tufteland, who handles appeals cases for the Clark County district attorney's office, said the lost transcripts could have a damaging effect on the appeals process.

The Nevada Supreme Court uses trial transcripts to determine whether a conviction should be overturned, he said.

"I think there are quite a few criminal and civil cases (that will be affected)," he said. "It will be a problem."

Pearson's appeal has already been long delayed as a result of Dalton's actions, according to one defense attorney.

Several transcripts documenting critical trial testimony in the case are missing, and Dalton was responsible for transcribing those court proceedings, according to Deputy Public Defender Drew Christensen.

Christensen filed a motion last week asking for a new trial, saying his client could not begin the appeals process without the transcripts from the original trial.

By law, transcripts are supposed to be filed with the court within 30 days of a transcript request. Christensen said in the motion that Pearson has been waiting to file an opening brief with the high court for close to three years.

"It has been over a year with no new transcripts filed," the motion states. "In theory, because the court reporter has yet to file the entire transcript, appellant can be waiting for an eternity."

Christensen also requests that Dalton be held in contempt of court or have "other additional sanctions imposed."

Under Nevada law Dalton could be charged with contempt of court, a misdemeanor which is punishable by jail time and a fine.

The extent of the damage on other cases will depend on which documents are missing from which cases, Tufteland said.

While the absence of minor portions of trial transcripts may not create much of a stir, he said, if several days of critical testimony were lost, the results could be catastrophic.

"The more critical the record, the more difficult it is to complete the appellate review process," he said.

Dalton is said to be still trying to locate some of the missing files, Tufteland said.

Dalton has moved to California and could not be reached for comment.

In a letter addressed to Gates in April, Dalton said a series of circumstances in her personal life prevented her from filing several transcripts.

She said she was forced to move from her home after her 19-year-old daughter became addicted to drugs. She said she moved a box containing most of the documents to her boyfriend's home, but he died suddenly.

She said her boyfriend's family members then sent her box of documents to Virginia.

Dalton said that when she finally received the box, files recorded after May 21, 2001, were missing.

"What do you say to people when all they want and need is a transcript and you cannot give it to them because your life is crashing and burning all around you and everything you ever worked for or held dear is taken from you?" Dalton says in her letter.

Dalton further writes, "I am well aware that I can be held personally responsible for my lost or stolen records and that this is a situation of grave magnitude affecting many lives outside my own.

"My husband was murdered, my car was stolen, my house destroyed, my daughter is dying, my boyfriend is now dead and my belongings are in boxes in several states," the letter states.

Court documents obtained by the Sun indicate that Dalton last filed transcripts with the court in March 2003. Those transcripts were for hearings that took place between May and August of 2001.

Court reporters are independent contractors who are paid per diem for their services and also paid when they produce a transcript. They are not court employees.

Short said the court could not sue her for any monies already paid because she earned any money she was paid.

Court reporters are paid $150 per day when they work in a courtroom and a statutory rate of $4 per page for any transcripts produced.

"She hasn't been paid for any work that was not completed," Short said.

Short said court officials have during the last several years discussed ways that court reporters could be hired as court employees.

"One of the stumbling blocks is that the court reporters are not unified in the way they want the relationship to be defined," he said.

Short said the incident involving Dalton could, however, bring about a much needed change.

"This incident may cause a public policy discussion at the 2005 Legislature around whether independent contractors who work as court reporters should own their own work product or whether the product should be the court's possession," he said.

Tufteland said Dalton was not the first court reporter to lose transcripts of important proceedings at the Clark County Courthouse.

In Manuel Lopez's capital murder case, a court reporter lost several transcripts detailing a half-day of testimony in the defense's case in chief as well as part of the proceedings in the penalty phase of the case, Tufteland said.

That court reporter later found the documents, however, saying she had inadvertently mislabeled them, he said.

A Nevada Supreme Court ruling allows attorneys to reconstruct small portions of transcripts that are unavailable. In those instances attorneys must rely on their notes and their memories to fill in holes in the court proceedings, Tufteland said.

Court recorders, who are employed by the court, record court proceedings using audio equipment. Court officials keep those tapes for 10 years.

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