Re "State courts need reform and dollars to ensure justice" (Editorials, March 15): Your editorial about Chief Tani Cantil-Sakauye's address to the Legislature acknowledged that courts have been forced to close and cut hours due to a lack of funding. The editorial also correctly noted that money was wasted on the failed computer project that consumed $500 million before the Judicial Council listened to judges who had urged an end to that misguided and mismanaged.
Your comment about the need to replace court reporters with electronic recording devices, however, demands a response. Court reporters already have been replaced in many courts. But electronic recording cannot replace court reporters altogether. That is not because we've been bullied by the reporters' union, but because due process demands an accurate record.
Compare a transcript recreated from a recording to one prepared by a skilled court reporter before you incorrectly label reporters expensive and inefficient.
-- Judge William Hamlin, Fresno County Superior Court
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