"When an appeal is filed on a criminal case, that appeal is usually returnable to the court of appeals within 60 days where someone else prepares the appellate record, but they need the transcript," Walker said. "If your court reporter is sitting in court, they're not going to be able to prepare those transcripts. When you're busy in court, it's difficult to get those transcripts out, especially with high-profile cases where lawyers want transcripts on a daily basis."Although Walker said there have been times when judges use fifth weeks for court, it doesn't happen often. "There's no rule that says we can't," the judge said. "But when we do sit in court on fifth week, it creates overtime issues, so we have to be cautious....MORE

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