A trailblazing Dundee sheriff has broken new ground for the UK justice system by presiding over a criminal jury trial while using a synthetic voice.
Sheriff Alastair Carmichael is believed to be the first judge in Britain – possibly the world – to achieve such a feat.
The veteran lawman lives with motor neurone disease (MND) and uses technology to help retain his identity and continue in his role at Dundee Sheriff Court.
He spoke exclusively to The Courier last year about his determination to keep working, despite his crushing diagnosis in February that year.
The sheriff had to step away from jury trials because of his faltering speech but months of behind-the-scenes work paid off and he was given the green light to return by the body in charge of Scottish judges.
Sheriff Carmichael said: “Having done a jury trial again, I now know that I can carry on doing them for a bit longer with the help of this IT.
“The sheriff clerks did some dry-runs with me of different stages of a jury trial to check that my material dove-tailed with what the sheriff clerks and the lawyers would be doing.
“As much as anything else, it’s having the confidence to know that I can cope and adjust when something goes wrong with the IT, or if I should hit the wrong key on my laptop – it happens.
“Knowing that I can still do the job as well as I could when I was able to use my natural voice is probably helping me to accept that this is the new version of me; this one can’t speak properly, but it’s a lot more adept at using IT than the previous one was.”
The sheriff initially used the mobile phone app SpeakUnique to communicate in court but has now transferred his voice to the slicker, laptop-based, Grid 3 along with Microsoft Word.
The text-to-speech tech was suggested by the MND team at NHS Tayside and the sheriff was able to “bank” his own voice.
Fifteen members of the public sit on jury trials in Scotland and sheriffs are responsible for the onerous task of addressing them at length on legal matters.
However, Sheriff Carmichael had the support of two new friends.
“The Word system will not, as yet, accept my own synthetic voice and I have to use their in-house synthetic voices.
“These include UK English voices George and Hazel, and both come in two different tonal qualities.
“However, I can’t always know which of them will come to the microphone.
“Eventually, I decided to go ahead with things as they are and to alert the jury in advance of this situation.
“After the trial I was left with a suspicion that the jurors were disappointed that Hazel had been a no-show.”
The jurors were complimentary of how the trial – which revolved around allegations of domestic abuse in Dundee – operated, which was greatly appreciated by the sheriff.
“I was a bit apprehensive before the trial, for two reasons.
“The first was whether I could operate the two IT systems that I’m using competently and the other was whether I could empathise with the jury using a synthetic voice.
“After the trial I had a sense of relief.
“I did make some mistakes with working the two systems but those errors were very much like a situation when somebody just says the wrong thing, or uses the wrong word, in the wrong place in a conversation; you take a pause and correct the error.
“Some of the jurors were kind enough to leave comments about how the IT had worked and it was clear from their comments that I had managed to empathise with them.
“This was very reassuring because it’s a crucial part of jury work for the judge to be able to connect with the jurors, to make them feel comfortable, and so that they know that they can trust the judge and know that he or she will make sure that the trial is conducted in a way that is fair for everybody involved.”
Thanks
Court staff, prosecutors and defence solicitors have all adapted to the sheriff’s changes and their support has not gone without thanks.
The sheriff also hailed the support of Sheriff Principal Gillian Wade KC, the judge who oversees the Tayside, Central and Fife sheriffdom.
Sheriff Carmichael said: “I was open with her, and everybody else, about my diagnosis from an early stage.
“Looking back, I’m sure that this has helped, because this way we’ve all had more time to absorb the situation and to think about, and discuss, what we could be doing.
“Her encouragement has allowed me to be ambitious about what could be achieved and has enabled me to seek guidance from the Tayside MND Team about what technology might help me in court.
“When you have positive people around you, who have open minds, in a supportive working environment, then new ways of doing things can be made to succeed.”
Inspiration hopes
While other judges across the world have been known to use voice technology, there is no reported evidence of it being used in criminal trials.
The sheriff – a former High Court prosecutor – hopes he can inspire others with similar issues.
He said: “What gives me the greatest pleasure is knowing that this has shown that somebody who can’t use their own natural voice – for whatever reason – can, by using a synthetic voice, perform a role, under pressure, in the public eye that requires verbal communication skills.
“I hope that knowing that this can be done could be of some help to anybody whose voice doesn’t work properly.”
