Brady v. State

178 So. 2d 121, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 4062
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedAugust 4, 1965
DocketNo. 3754
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 178 So. 2d 121 (Brady v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brady v. State, 178 So. 2d 121, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 4062 (Fla. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

PER CURIAM.

From judgments of conviction and sentences imposed against them for violation of the lottery laws of the State of Florida, defendants-appellants, Frank Brady and Willie Johnson, have instituted an appeal.

Although other questions are also raised, we are concerned primarily with a tape recording of a conversation between Lambert Phillips, a witness for the state, and one of the defendants, Brady, together with a purported transcript of the recorded conversation. The recording was admitted into evidence, while the transcript, although excluded as evidence, was permitted by the court to be used by each juror in the form of copies distributed among them to aid them in their understanding of the recording as it was being played. The conversation in question took place on the street outside a place known as “Frank’s Bar.” The recording was procured by means' of a battery powered electronic apparatus consisting of a microphone and antennae, strapped to the body and concealed be[122]*122neath the clothing of Phillips, and a receiver-transmitter and recording device located on a truck parked across the street from the bar to the front of which the two stood talking.

During the trial, the tape recording was offered into evidence by the state. Defendants objected, saying among other things that its contents were so inaudible and indistinct that the jury would be required to speculate as to what was said. In overruling the objections and admitting the tape recording into evidence, the court said:

“While a large part of this tape is inaudible and you do have to listen closely to understand any of the tape, if you do listen closely you can understand part of it. Part of it you can’t understand even if you listen closely. Now, if there were no other evidence of this conversation, I certainly would sustain your objection but in view of the fact that the witness Lambert Phillips has testified as to the conversation and what went on I’m inclined to overrule the objection.”

Their objection as to inaudibility and unintelligibility of the tape recording and asserted consequent unreliability of it is reiterated by defendants on the appeal. Allied with their position as to the claimed prejudicial effect of admission of it into evidence is their vigorous protest that harmful error was further committed by the court in authorizing at the instance of the state use of the purported transcript of the recorded conversation rejected as evidence, a copy of which was in the hands of each juror as the recording was being played.

The state argues that, although in spots the recording is inaudible and incoherent, it reflects to a great degree the entire matter discussed and that even the portions appearing inaudible concern a certain number and seem to establish that Brady was the “chief man or banker.” It is urged that the total evidence is ample to convict both defendants of the charges thrust against them.

The court reporter’s transcript of the tape recording as it was run before the jury follows:

“(Thereupon, the recording was played for the jury. The following is the portion the Court reporter could understand of the recording.) :
For two years I have been playing this thing and I didn’t get it back.—
I know, but you feel like doing it whether you do it or not. if there is—
64—
Every week.—
God damn thing.—
They ain’t telling -you a thing.—
Bring anything—
They don’t bring you before 2:0O o’clock.—
31, but that there on 32, that should have been by 31.—
I can’t — if he’s got that on 31.—
I don’t know where he goes.—
- — 31, but see — 32, 72 and 31 — shows you the mistake.
—32.—God damn race is run. I mean-you can’t do that.
It’s just like you — you can put yourself in my shoes.
—God damn numbers- — turn in four numbers. — when we don’t sell the stuff. What would you do, huh?
That’s what I’m talking about, see?
You would do the same thing I would.
—All right.
—all that stuff. — there is a way to do it.
—well, okay.”

[123]*123The transcript which was in the hands of the jurors 1 as the tape was being run had been prepared by officers of the law through repeated reruns or playbacks of the record[124]*124ing and the subsequent dictation of what was made of it into a dictaphone, whence it was reduced to typewriting by a stenographer in the prosecuting attorney's office. In moving for its admission into evidence, the state said, in response to a query of the court as to the purpose of the offer, that it was not being offered as primary evidence but to give the jury the opportunity “to compare the transcript with the record as the record is played and judge for themselves whether the transcript is an accurate reproduction of what is on the recording. The purpose of the offer is to assist the Court and the jury.” The trial judge sustained defendants’ objection as to the admission into evidence of the typewritten transcript, saying:

“Well, actually you haven’t — in offering this in evidence you haven’t offered it in such a way as to accomplish what you say the purpose for offering it in evidence is. If it’s received in evidence then it — what is written on that paper becomes facts which the jury may consider. I sustain the objection as to its being received in evidence.”

Then ensued the motion of the state that copies of the transcript be delivered to the court and jury for their assistance and understanding upon the playing of the tape recording. The court, granting the motion, admonished the jury as follows:

“Now, what is written on this piece of paper that you are permitted to have is not evidence and you will not consider anything from that paper as evidence in this case. Only what you hear from the recording itself is evidence and if you don’t hear anything that may be written on that paper, you are not to consider what is on the paper. You are to consider only what you hear. The paper — the contents of the paper are not evidence in this case for you to consider. It’s merely for your assistance in following the recording.
“Now, there is a great part of this recording that you cannot understand. Some of it you can, if you listen closely, understand. You will consider as evidence in this case only that portion of the recording which you understand. * *

When we see the short transcript of those portions of the tape recording which the court reporter was able to understand and compare it with the considerably longer typewritten matter placed with each juror, a great difference is discernible as to the clarity and coherence and as to what each conveyed. By a reading of the latter, the defendant Brady was the banker of the lottery operation here charged.

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Related

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Bluebook (online)
178 So. 2d 121, 1965 Fla. App. LEXIS 4062, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brady-v-state-fladistctapp-1965.