"Jacob A. F." was arrested and ultimately pleaded guilty to "driving while ability impaired" after a request to have his criminal case dismissed was denied. When he went to the Appellate Term, Second Department, prosecutors argued that Jacob's appeal was defective because state law required that "the underlying proceedings [be] recorded by a court stenographer."
While it was true that the proceedings hadn't been contemporaneously transcribed by a human being, the AT2 thought that an electronic recording was a "functional equivalent," at least as far as the governing statute was concerned.
But while the appeal was found to have properly brought, the court ultimately refused to modify the underlying determination because Jacob had failed to make a "timely request" for the underlying documents which supported the criminal charges.
(Talk about an impairment.)
To view a copy of the Appellate Term's decision, please use the following link: People v. F.