People v. Abdella

Defendant appeals by leave granted the trial court’s order denying his postconviction motion to review the audiotape recordings of part of his trial. Defendant wished to compare the recordings with the certified transcript of the proceedings. We reverse.

Following a jury trial in 1985, defendant was convicted of burning a dwelling house, MCL 750.72; MSA 28.267, and related crimes. According to defendant, following the mixed success of his appeal as of right in this Court 1 and upon receipt of the certified transcripts of his trial from appellate counsel, he discovered that a portion of the…