OATHS

R.C.M. 807(b) provides that "The reporters shall take an oath to perform their duties faithfully." The JAGMAN lists the required verbiage of the oath:

Oath for reporters: The trial counsel (TC) will administer the following oath to every reporter of a court-martial who has not been previously sworn:

Do you (swear) (affirm) that you will faithfully perform the duties of reporter to this court-martial (so help you God)?"

The TC administers the oath to the reporter at the court-martial. At the discretion of the CO of the NLSO to which the reporter is assigned or employed, reporters may execute a written oath to perform their duties faithfully in all cases to which they are detailed or employed before an officer qualified to administer oaths.

When a reporter who has been sworn is used by, reassigned to, or employed by a different GCM CA, a copy of the oath is given to the CO of the NLSO of the new CA. The CO of the NLSO authorizing the administration of a written oath maintains a copy of the oath so it may readily be determined that the reporter has been previously sworn. When reporters are not sworn in court because they have previously been sworn, this fact is noted in the transcript or the record of trial.

When calling the court-martial to order for the first time in a case, the military judge makes sure the name and rank of the detailed court reporter are announced. After all personnel of the court have been accounted for, the TC announces whether the reporter, if one is present, has been previously sworn. If not sworn, the reporter is then sworn. If a reporter is ever replaced during the trial, this fact must be noted in the record.

VERBATIM REPORTING

You, as the court reporter, are responsible for recording all proceedings verbatim. Actually, the term verbatim reporting may be misleading. There will, of course, be instances where you will know beforehand that a verbatim transcript of the proceedings will not be required, as in an SPCM where a punitive discharge is not authorized. Good reporting techniques, however, dictate that you should record all proceedings verbatim. There is always the chance that the CA may desire a verbatim transcript even though such a transcript would not otherwise be required. Obviously, you cannot prepare a verbatim transcript unless you have previously recorded the proceedings word for word. Also, there are certain portions of a summarized record that must be transcribed verbatim.

GENERAL DUTIES OF THE COURT REPORTER

The most important thing you should always keep in mind when you are detailed as a reporter for any military court or commission is that it is your job to get it all down.

If a question is raised whether any particular matter is included in the terms proceedings of and testimony taken, the military judge determines the question according to applicable law and regulations. It is the duty of the reporter to include in the record everything that is said or takes place in open sessions and in hearings out of the presence of the court members. The reporter does not omit any portion of these proceedings from the record.

Before Trial

Before trial you may be directed to perform other administrative duties that could include typing and preparing the following documents:

l Article 32 investigations

l Oral depositions

l Investigating officer's report

l Advice of the SJA

l Pretrial agreements

l Stipulations

l Charges and specifications

l Fliers

l Findings and sentence work sheets

l Proposed instruction to the members

Make sure copies of the appropriate court-martial convening order and any amendments are before each member of the court, military judge, TC, defense counsel (DC), and the accused. In addition, if the case was originally referred to one convening order and then re-referred to another, you must furnish the original order to the military judge. You also will provide a copy of the charges and specifications, questions forms, and sufficient paper and pencils to all parties to the trial.

You must make sure your recording equipment is in proper working condition and the other tools of good reporting are available; for example, extra pencils, extra prenumbered tapes, chalk, blackboard, erasers, tags for real evidence, and a reporter's work sheet.

Some of these pretrial administrative duties are addressed in this chapter and some are addressed later in chapter 6.