Action seen or heard on a tape should be able to speak for itself. But that is not always the case in some Minnesota courts.
Sponsored by Rep. Steve Simon (DFL-St. Louis Park) and Sen. Leo Foley (DFL-Coon Rapids), a new law will clarify that a pretrial filing of a written transcript from an audio or videotape in a law enforcement vehicle is not a prerequisite for admission of that recording evidence in a DWI criminal trial or license revocation hearing. Simon said some courts have been reading into the law a requirement that is not there.
The law, signed April 15 by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, takes effect July 1, 2010.
All state patrol vehicles and many police vehicles have dashboard cameras. Simon said there are about 40,000 DWI arrests annually, and only about 500 of those go to trial; thereby potentially forcing agencies to make the time and cover the expense of producing an unneeded transcript in most cases. Other potential problems include transcriber error and inaudible statements by the accuser making it tough to certify the transcript. He also said the tape is the evidence, not the transcript.
HF212*/
SF333/CH231