Stricken Answer, Live-Microphone Sidebar, and Interrupted Question
During a personal-injury jury trial in a Georgia state court, a defense expert says, 'I heard the shop foreman say the brakes were fine before the sale.' Plaintiff's counsel objects on hearsay. The judge says, 'Sustained. The jury will disregard that answer. Strike it.' Later, defense counsel asks, 'What did the foreman tell you-' and plaintiff objects again. The judge holds a sidebar with counsel; your stenograph captures it because the bench microphone stayed live, though the judge did not say it was on the record. The jury is excused for a 12-minute break, during which the judge and counsel discuss the stricken answer on the record. The transcript is ordered for appeal. Defense counsel asks you to omit the stricken answer and the sidebar because the jury did not hear the sidebar and the answer was stricken.
1. May you omit the stricken answer at defense counsel's request? How should it appear?
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No. A motion to strike tells the jury to disregard the answer; it does not erase the answer from the record. Appellate courts may need to review the question, answer, objection, and ruling to decide whether the strike was proper and whether the jury was adequately instructed. Include the question, the answer, the objection, the ruling, and a neutral parenthetical such as '(The answer was stricken.)' after the ruling. Do not delete the answer or move it to an appendix. If the jury was absent for any part, note that fact. The transcript should show the sequence without arguing about prejudice.
2. What should you do with the sidebar captured by the live microphone?
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Do not destroy the recording or notes, and do not unilaterally publish the sidebar as if it were unquestionably on the record. The judge did not say it was on the record, and the capture may have been inadvertent. Preserve the material and ask the judge, on the record and with counsel present, whether the sidebar was intended to be reported. If it was on the record, include it. If it was intended to be off the record, the transcript may note that a bench conference was held off the record without disclosing its content. Do not privately disclose the sidebar to one party or use it as leverage.
3. How should the interrupted question 'What did the foreman tell you-' be punctuated, and how should 'all right' be handled?
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Use an em dash to show the interruption and do not add a question mark, because the question was cut off before completion. The speaker's capitalization and wording should otherwise be preserved. For 'all right,' use the standard two-word form unless the spelling itself is at issue or the speaker's exact pronunciation is being represented by a established transcription convention. Do not upgrade the witness's grammar or convert dialect into formal prose. The goal is a readable but verbatim record; punctuation may clarify an interruption, but it should not change the substance of the question.