Transcripts of seven cases involving violent crimes in Arapahoe County have been deemed “substantially completed” and forwarded to the Court of Appeals. The cases stalled for two years when a court reporter quit without completing transcriptions of testimony.
Court reporter Valerie Barnes quit in 2003 while struggling with breast cancer, leaving the cases in limbo because others couldn’t read her unorthodox shorthand.
The cases include sexual assault, manslaughter, attempted manslaughter and aggravated robbery.
Prosecutors were at risk of losing convictions in the seven cases until Anthony Vollack, a former Colorado Supreme Court chief judge, moved the cases forward this week for appeal.
Two other cases remain in limbo. One will be moved forward next month when transcription is complete, said 18th Judicial District Attorney Carol Chambers.
Barnes is recovering and working as a full-time courtroom deputy with duties that do not involve taking notes on testimony, said Greg Langham, U.S. District Court clerk.
Without her help, the two remaining cases linger in doubt, and translations of Barnes’ shorthand could take another year, Chambers said.
“She was paid to do a job that she did not complete,” said Chambers, who said she is a breast-cancer survivor. “It is so traumatic to be a victim of sex assault or any kind of violent crime, and to have all this added on top of it is unbearable.”
Barnes can’t help with transcriptions because of her medical treatment, said her attorney, David Lane.
