Banks v. State
When the reporter's record has been lost or destroyed through no fault of the defendant, the State cannot salvage its multiple convictions by claiming that the duties of a court reporter under Rule of Appellate Procedure 13.6 are trumped by the duties established in Government Code §52.046(a)(4). Under the Government Code, a court reporter is required upon request to preserve the notes of a trial for three years from the date on which they were taken. This record does not show any request by the defendant until years after the time limit had expired, so the court reporter's duty under that statute to retain the record for three years did not apply. However, Rule 13.6 does apply and the court reporter was under the obligation to file the untranscribed notes with the district clerk to be retained for 15 years in accordance with that rule. Therefore, the fact the records cannot be found in the district clerk's office either because the court reporter failed to file them or the records have been lost while in the custody of the district clerk's office is not the fault of the defendant, who is entitled to relief. Banks v. State - 05-05-01050-CR.
