Making a Record of Justice Rendered

Mark Hayes spends most days as a silent witness to the tragedy of young lives.

Since 1973, he has diligently written down each word spoken by the young, accused criminals who pass through Orange County’s Juvenile Court, along with the impassioned pleas of those who fight over what punishment they should receive.

What began as a way to escape the routine of a minimum-wage job ended up as a demanding career as a county court reporter. Hayes documents despair at the rate of 35,000 keystrokes a day.

“One of the first murders I took was a 15-year-old boy who killed his mother,” Hayes recalled. “In that hearing he was emotionless. He showed absolutely no emotions. He sat there, he didn’t cry, he was just solemn.

“His parents were divorced and his father had come down to Orange County for the hearing. The only emotion I saw out of that kid the whole time was when he was leaving the courtroom. He turned to his father and mouthed the words, ‘I’m sorry, Dad.’ ”

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During his 23 years of court reporting in Orange County, Hayes worked six years in the child dependency division of Juvenile Court, an experience he calls the most “eye-opening” of all.

“I got my real dose of reality when I was doing all the child abuse and child neglect cases. I had a case where a 5-month-old child had two broken tibiae, five broken ribs, and the child was not even of a walking age. I’ve had molest victims as young as 3 years old who have testified as witnesses.

“The adult criminal cases were downtown. In dependency court, we were only interested in determining who had been abusing or neglecting the child. There was a lesser burden of proof, so we would hear a lot more of the details than you would in a normal trial.”

Much of the testimony he takes down is emotionally charged, but the accuracy of his work depends on a rigorous emotional detachment while in the courtroom setting.

“Concentration only makes a court reporter’s job harder,” Hayes said. “Once you learn to let your subconscious mind do the writing, that’s when your work comes easier. The best writing comes on automatic pilot.

“You hear the words in the ear and they come out on the fingers. When you’re paying too much attention and listening to every word, your conscious mind gets in the way and thinks: What was that? What was this? You write your best notes when there’s nothing to interfere with what you hear.”

But Hayes has to proofread the final transcript before he can legally certify it as an accurate account of the court proceedings.

“When you’re doing a transcript, you’re basically reliving the trial all over again. Depending on the system that you report by, you’re translating it, editing it and then you come back and proofread it.”

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The profession requires a complex set of mental skills. To pass the state exam, prospective court reporters must type a minimum 200 words a minute on a Stenograph machine, which uses a shorthand based on the sound of the words spoken. An accuracy rate of at least 97.5% is required.

His choice of such a challenging career was prompted by the results of a vocational aptitude test he took at age 18 while a student at Long Beach City College.

“My No. 1 vocation turned out to be court reporting. I started going to night school in Santa Ana.”

He was a young husband and father at the time, working as a shoe salesman. It took five years of night school for Hayes to complete the course of study and earn his license.

“I’ve seen people get that license and quit after only six months out in the field. It can be very stressful. In some of these child dependency cases we did, you have no less than four lawyers, you have the parties themselves, plus you have the grandparents and social workers. You can have as many as 11 people in the courtroom who are talking all the time.

“You have to take down every single word that everybody says. Plus, before you write what they say, you have to identify them. You have all these interchanges where they often talk at the same time. It takes a certain kind of personality that can absorb all of it.”

Some cost-conscious court administrators want to eliminate personality altogether from the court-reporting profession with the use of audio and video recorders.

“The battle against electrical recording is constant. You have these giant companies that would love to take over this business, to do away with us,” Hayes said. “Unfortunately in this day and age, people are thinking about economy instead of quality. But if it was your life on the line, if you were up for murder and facing the gas chamber, where would you place your trust? With a tape recorder?”

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Profile: Mark Hayes

Age: 51

Hometown: Brockton, Mass.

Residence: Anaheim Hills

Family: Three grown children, two grandchildren

Education: Studied at Long Beach City College and Whitley College of Court Reporting; licensed as a court reporter in 1970.

Background: Began court reporting in 1973 at Orange County Juvenile Court; spent 18 months in Divorce Court and six years in child dependency section of Juvenile Court; returned to criminal proceedings at Juvenile Court in 1995; past president of the Orange County General Court Reporters Assn. and the Orange County Superior Court Reporters Assn.; former legislative representative and treasurer for Court Reporters Board of California; 19 years as California’s chief examination proctor for court reporter licensing exams; received the Distinguished Service Award in 1990, the highest honor in the state for court reporting.

On keeping focused: “Concentration only makes a court reporter’s job harder. Once you learn to let your subconscious mind do the writing, that’s when your work comes easier. The best writing comes on automatic pilot.”

Source: Mark Hayes; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times

Los Angeles Times