Summary
finding that defendant convicted of certain felony offenses could request tapes of his trial in accordance with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.051(e)
Summary of this case from Holt v. Chief Judge of the Thirteenth Judicial CircuitOpinion
No. 1D05-4454.
December 29, 2005.
John N.C. Ledbetter of Matthews Hawkins, Destin, for petitioner.
Charlie Crist, Attorney General, and Edward C. Hill, Jr., Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for respondent.
Raymond Edward Kitchen petitions this court for a writ of mandamus, asking that the lower tribunal be compelled to provide him with tapes of the trial which resulted in his conviction of certain felony offenses in Santa Rosa County. Kitchen asserts that the tapes will reveal that the interpreter utilized by the court with certain witnesses who do not speak English did not accurately translate their testimony. This request for tapes has been denied by the trial court.
We find that, as argued by respondent, Kitchen has an adequate remedy by arguing on direct appeal that the trial court erred in denying his post-trial motion which sought, among other things, copies of the tapes. Also, Kitchen may present a request for the tapes to the trial court in accordance with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.051(e). Both of these remedies are more appropriate to resolve the issue than the instant mandamus petition, which we accordingly deny without prejudice.
PETITION DENIED.
DAVIS, BROWNING and LEWIS, JJ., concur.