State v. Haas, 202 N.C. App. 345 (2010)

The transcript of the defendant’s prior testimony in a juvenile hearing was admissible, even if the audio recording was available. Parents testified in a juvenile proceeding in which their child was alleged to be an abused juvenile, and the testimony was recorded and transcribed. At a subsequent criminal trial of one parent, the trial court denied defendant’s motion to exclude the transcript, but ordered that either party could elect to have the jury hear the actual recording. The transcript of defendant’s testimony was distributed to the jury, and neither party asked that the recording be played. The Court of Appeals upheld defendant’s conviction of felony child abuse, holding that the best evidence rule did not preclude use of the transcript when there was no dispute about its accuracy, defendant could have offered the tape itself as evidence, and the tape was not included in the record on appeal.