Criminal depositions?

[Tina MacKellar]

Hi. I've been doing this eight years, but I've never had a deposition in a criminal matter. Are there special agencies for that kind of work? Just curious because it sounds like it would be really interesting. I'm not even sure if they take criminal depositions. Thanks!

[Kelli Combs (admin)]

I think you need to work in court for criminal matters. Most agencies deal with civil litigation. When I worked in court in Nevada for five years when I first started out, I dealt with all sorts of criminal matters.

You may get a criminal matter through depositions if they are suing on the civil side, which does happen.

[Jane McGill]

I have taken depositions in prisons where the criminal is suing or being sued over civil matters or, more often, for their treatment in prison. It is usually interesting, but I find myself feeling sorry for them more than anything else. On one in particular, the man was being sued for a drunk driving death he caused in a hit-and-run accident. It was hard to be civil to him, but he deserves fair treatment by me just like anyone else I meet. The last one I took was of a man in jail for taking videos and photos of people in tanning beds. He was being sued individually by one of the people whose photo he took and the deposition lasted about 10 minutes, since his answers were pleading the 5th for everything.

[Mary Jo Cochran]

In Florida, certain court reporting agencies get the work, and only court reporters working for one of those firms is allowed into the courts and into the criminal court complexes. I did it for a year.

Look in your phone book for the court reporting firms. The ones that do the trial work may have it on there. Call the firms and ask them if they do the trial work. You could call the clerk of the court for your county and ask them who their official court reporters are.

[Julie Guvernator]

In Wisconsin, and it may be the same in other states, a criminal defendant is not entitled to depose a witness before trial. If there are similar laws in other states, that may be another explanation.