§ 23.8 Report of Proceedings

• Jurisdiction: Washington

§23.8 REPORT OF PROCEEDINGS

An indigent party is entitled to a verbatim report of proceedings relevant to the issues raised on appeal. The record must be as adequate as the record available to a party who is not indigent. Draper v. Washington, 372 U.S. 487, 83 S. Ct. 774, 9 L. Ed. 2d 899, cert. denied, 374 U.S. 852 (1963). When a party has the right to effective representation on appeal, that right includes public payment of expenses and fees necessary to provide an adequate record to the appellate court. In re Grove, 127 Wn.2d 221, 234, 897 P.2d 1252 (1995); M.L.B. v. S.L.J., 519 U.S. 102, 117 S. Ct. 555, 136 L. Ed. 2d 473 (1996) (finding due process violation when mother was required to advance costs of transcribing record to appeal parental termination order).

Generally, a verbatim report of proceedings, rather than a narrative report or agreed report of proceedings, is the easiest record to obtain and the most accurate for purposes of review. When the indigent appellant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence at trial and there is no showing by the state of any better method of reporting the trial testimony, the indigent should be provided a transcript of the trial testimony at public expense. State v. Atteberry, 87 Wn.2d 556, 554 P.2d 1053 (1976); State v. Jackson, 87 Wn.2d 562, 554 P.2d 1347 (1976). The defendant need not show probable merit before the transcript will be authorized. State v. Giles, 148 Wn.2d 449, 60 P.3d 1208 (2003); Atteberry, 87 Wn.2d 556; State v. Young, 70 Wn. App. 528, 856 P.2d 399 (1993).

RAP 15.2(e) provides that the verbatim...