RECORD IS NOT SUFFICIENT TO DETERMINE HOW THE TRIAL COURT HANDLED NOTES FROM THE JURY, NEW TRIAL ORDERED; CHALLENGE TO THE PROPRIETY OF HOLDING A RECONSTRUCTION HEARING IS MOOT AND WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED AS AN EXCEPTION TO THE MOOTNESS DOCTRINE (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing the conviction, determined the record was not sufficient to determine how the trial court handled notes from the jury and reversal was therefore required:

… [R]eversal is required as a result of ” the absence of record proof that the trial court complied with its [meaningful notice obligation] under CPL 310.30′ ” in response to two substantive jury notes … . Here, the stenographer was unable to transcribe the final day of the trial that included County Court’s handling of the jury notes due to an error that rendered the subject electronic stenographic notes unrecoverable, and a reconstruction hearing failed to establish the court’s on-the-record handling of those notes. We “cannot assume that the proper procedure was utilized when the record is devoid of information as to how jury notes were handled” … . We therefore reverse the judgment and grant a new trial. In light of our determination, defendant’s challenge to the propriety of holding a reconstruction hearing under these circumstances is moot, and we reject defendant’s contention that his challenge falls within the exception to the mootness doctrine … . People v Grimes, 2019 NY Slip Op 05461, Fourth Dept 7-5-19