Report: NYC court stenographer who typed 'gibberish' may jeopardize up to 30 convictions

NEW YORK, April 3 (UPI) -- The verdicts of up to 30 Manhattan court cases are in jeopardy because of the actions of an alcoholic Manhattan court stenographer, according to a report by the New York Post.

Former court employee Daniel Kochanski reportedly typed "gibberish" or repeatedly wrote "I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job" instead of taking notes on what was happening during trial cases.

Kochanski’s allegedly botched records include the transcripts from the 2010 mortgage-fraud trial of Aaron Hand.

“It should have been questions and answers -- instead it was gibberish,” the Post reported. “He hit random keys or wrote, ‘I hate my job. I hate my job. I hate my job,’ over and over.”

Hand was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to take out a witness against him.

Claudia Trupp of the Center for Appellate Litigation is handling Hand’s appeal and nine similar cases. “I never had a situation where a single court reporter was responsible for so much damage,” she said. “This situation is terrible for everybody.”

Kochanski, 43, was fired in March 2012 for misconduct.

He claims that the reason he was let go had nothing to do with troubled transcripts.

“I never typed gibberish. I always did my job 100 percent. I was let go because of substance abuse,” Kochanski said on Wednesday. “I’m in recovery. July will be one year I’m clean,” he said.

[New York Post]