[Irene Adler]

"Neither do readbacks. I've been on a jury and have had testimony read back to us.

True, but judges are actually reluctant to do the readbacks, as well. It is the minimum they can do, and it's all they do.

When I was on a jury, the judge told us that if we had questions or wanted readbacks, he had to bring in both attorneys and the defendent from wherever they were at the time, and he obviously didn't want to to that unless we REALLY wanted something. For the answer to one of our questions, he just sent us a note that said, "Read your written instructions from me, again." And he was quite a nice judge, too.

[nycgal]

One of the readbacks we requested was that of a woman with a Jamaican accent so thick we hadn't been able to understand one word. I don't know how the court reporter did it, but she managed to key it in with a pained expression on her face. How much of it was made up by her and how much was what the witness actually said, we'll never know.