1. Except as otherwise provided in subsection 2, a magistrate shall employ a certified court reporter to take down all the testimony and the proceedings on the hearing or examination and, within such time as the court may designate, have such testimony and proceedings transcribed into typewritten transcript.

2. A magistrate who presides over a preliminary hearing in a justice court, in any case other than in a case in which the death penalty is sought, may employ a certified court reporter to take down all the testimony and the proceedings on the hearing or appoint a person to use sound recording equipment to record all the testimony and the proceedings on the hearing. If the magistrate appoints a person to use sound recording equipment to record the testimony and proceedings on the hearing, the testimony and proceedings must be recorded and transcribed in the same manner as set forth in NRS 4.390 to 4.420, inclusive. Any transcript of the testimony and proceedings produced from a recording conducted pursuant to this subsection is subject to the provisions of this section in the same manner as a transcript produced by a certified court reporter.

3. When the testimony of each witness is all taken and transcribed by the reporter, the reporter shall certify to the transcript in the same manner as for a transcript of testimony in the district court, which certificate authenticates the transcript for all purposes of this title.

4. Before the date set for trial, either party may move the court before which the case is pending to add to, delete from or otherwise correct the transcript to conform with the testimony as given and to settle the transcript so altered.

5. The compensation for the services of a reporter employed as provided in this section are the same as provided in NRS 3.370, to be paid out of the county treasury as other claims against the county are allowed and paid.

6. Testimony reduced to writing and authenticated according to the provisions of this section must be filed by the examining magistrate with the clerk of the district court of the magistrate’s county, and if the prisoner is subsequently examined upon a writ of habeas corpus, such testimony must be considered as given before such judge or court. A copy of the transcript must be furnished to the defendant and to the district attorney.

7. The testimony so taken may be used:

(a) By the defendant; or

(b) By the State if the defendant was represented by counsel or affirmatively waived his or her right to counsel,

upon the trial of the cause, and in all proceedings therein, when the witness is sick, out of the State, dead, or persistent in refusing to testify despite an order of the judge to do so, or when the witness’s personal attendance cannot be had in court.

(Added to NRS by 1967, 1406; A 1973, 1322; 1987, 911; 1989, 1272; 1993, 75, 1411, 2024; 1995, 570; 2009, 633)