Montford v. State

Birdsong, Judge.

On October 6,1976, Swayze Montford and Phillip Hodge, along with one other, were tried for the crime of armed robbery. Montford and Hodge were convicted as charged. The third individual’s involvement ended in a mistrial. Montford and Hodge were each sentenced to serve life imprisonment. The court reporter who took down the transcript, after the trial but before the transcript was prepared, left the employ of the court. As a result the transcript remained inchoate on tape. Though the reporter was asked to prepare a transcript after he left the court’s employ, the reporter…