Opinion
No. 37260
Decided February 13, 1963.
Mandamus — To require court to furnish indigent prisoner transcript of testimony — Transcript delivered to counsel — No duty to furnish multiple copies to prisoner.
IN MANDAMUS.
This is an action in mandamus originating in this court, whereby relator, Percy Lee Terrell, seeks an order requiring the Court of Common Pleas to furnish him a transcript of the testimony at his trial for the purpose of appeal.
Relator was indicted by the Grand Jury of Hamilton County on February 19, 1960, on a charge of second degree murder. On April 13, 1960, relator, having been tried to a jury, was found guilty of murder in the second degree. On April 15, the Court of Common Pleas entered the following order:
"It is hereby ordered that Toni Moschel, official shorthand reporter, transcribe the testimony and proceedings in this case, and make a carbon copy thereof, for the use of counsel for the state and the defendant. The expense thereof to be taxed in the costs as provided by law in the sum of $132."
On April 16, 1960, a motion for a new trial was filed and after argument on April 28 was overruled, and relator was confined to the Ohio Penitentiary. In July of 1960, relator filed a motion with the trial court to furnish a transcript. That motion was overruled.
Mr. Percy Lee Terrell, in propria persona. Mr. C. Watson Hover, prosecuting attorney, and Mr. William S. Mathews, for respondent.
To be entitled to a writ of mandamus, a relator must show an unfulfilled clear legal duty on the part of the official against whom the writ is directed. The records in the present case show that a transcript was ordered by the court on relator's behalf. This transcript was delivered to his attorneys, but relator contends that he has never seen it.
The duty of the state to furnish an indigent defendant a copy of the transcript of his trial for the purpose of appeal extends only to the furnishing of a single transcript. There is no duty on the state to furnish multiple copies of the transcript to the defendant. State, ex rel. Vitoratos, v. Walsh, Clerk, 173 Ohio St. 467.
The trial court having fulfilled its statutory duty when it ordered a copy of the transcript prepared for relator, no grounds exist for the issuance of a writ of mandamus.
Writ denied.
TAFT, C.J., ZIMMERMAN, MATTHIAS, O'NEILL, GRIFFITH, HERBERT and GIBSON, JJ., concur.