HAMILTON — Butler County officials are asking: Can we afford live court reporters? Some observers say the county can hardly afford not to.

        Among four Southwest Ohio counties, only Butler routinely uses audio recordings to capture court action in major cases instead of court stenographers. Butler also uses mostly judges' secretaries to transcribe the recordings for extra income. In Kentucky, higher-level courts use videotapes in a system the Washington Post called “trailblazing” but “cumbersome and subject to human error,” in 1990.

        Butler's system is under attack. Along with allegations of political patronage, critics cite limitations of the recording equipment — and of the transcriptionists who use it.

        Across the nation, equipment failures and tampering have sometimes caused embarrassing, costly mistakes — and even jeopardized justice. Court stenographers say they do a better job even if they are more costly.

        “The right to appeal is one of the foundations of our justice system — and an accurate transcript is essential to an appeal,” said Marshall Jorpeland, spokesman for the National Court Reporters Association.

        When Middletown minister Darrell Bell appealed his 1999 sexual-abuse conviction, he alleged 1,447 trial statements were either unrecorded on a cassette tape or were labeled “inaudible” in the transcript.

        The 12th District Court of Appeals, however, said the missing portions did not substantially harm Mr. Bell's right to appeal and “the vast majority” of the testimony was transcribed.

        Since then, the county spent about $7,000 per courtroom to switch to compact-disc recording at the Common Pleas level. “For the most part, this system has worked,” says Matthew Crehan, Butler's administrative judge.

        He says no system is infallible and the current one “is adequate for our purposes.”

        The county employs stenographers only in death-penalty cases — as required by Ohio law. In civil cases, attorneys decide whether they want to pay for a court stenographer.

        Judge Crehan estimates it would cost at least $250,000 a year to supply professional stenographers for the five Common Pleas general division judges. That excludes the county's three area courts, probate, domestic relations and juvenile courts, which still use cassette tapes. (Some domestic relations cases are recorded on compact disc, depending on which courtroom is used.)

        Last year, 260 Butler cases were appealed and therefore required transcripts — a small portion of the more than 4,000 cases filed in the county each year. That's why Judge Crehan thinks the money might be better spent to add personnel.

        Judge Crehan says he previously heard no complaints about the current system, which has been used for about 40 years. But Prosecutor Robin Piper says he was troubled about it throughout his 14 years as an assistant prosecutor.

        “I saw transcripts on numerous occasions that were done in such an unprofessional way as to raise my eyebrows and cause concerns,” he said, citing misspellings, typographical errors, large numbers of “inaudibles,” and inconsistent formatting.

        Mr. Piper says he is perhaps more aware of the problems than defense attorneys because, “as a prosecutor, you see more transcripts.” He also acknowledges lawyers may be reluctant to criticize a transcript prepared by a judge's employee.

        Jane Fitch, a professional stenographer who began publicly criticizing Butler's system earlier this month, wants the Butler system abolished whether or not her firm gets the work. She also thinks Ohio should join the 34 states that have some form of certification for court reporters.

        Ms. Fitch says many certified court reporters complete a two-year course that teaches ethics, legal terminology and the shorthand that stenographers input into their machines. Many reporters also undergo continuing education on the latest technology.

        The county commissioners haven't said whether they are willing to fund court stenographers.

        Michael Fox, commission president, says he has heard few complaints about court records in the general division, which handles felony criminal cases and civil cases exceeding $15,000.

        The juvenile court, however, is a source of numerous complaints, Mr. Fox says. Even prosecutors and Children Services caseworkers say they were denied transcripts and audio recordings from that court.

        Judge David Niehaus did not return a call seeking comment.

        Mr. Fox favors adding stenographers in juvenile court “no matter what the cost, because we're talking about lifelong effects on the families and children that come into that court.”

        Angie Caputo, 39, of West Chester Township, says she wanted to listen to an audio recording of a juvenile court hearing and compare it with the transcript. But a secretary — who prepared the disputed transcript — told her that wasn't allowed.

        Also, Ms. Caputo said a hearing on May 15, 1996, went unrecorded because “they told me that they just forgot to turn the tape recorder on; that's something that happens.”

        As a result, Ms. Caputo believes her appeal — an effort to regain custody of her daughter — suffered immeasurably. “When you get to pick and select the information that gets into the record, how much can that distort the truth?” she asked.

        Ms. Caputo wants to see professional court reporters in Butler County. “People would be able to regain trust in that aspect of the court system,” she said.

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