Drunk stenographer repeatedly writes ‘I hate my job’ in court copy

An intoxicated court stenographer wreaked havoc on 30 Manhattan court cases after getting a “touch of The Shining” and repeatedly writing “I hate my job” in his court copy.

During a high-profile criminal trial, Daniel Kochanski, who has since been fired, repeatedly typed “I hate my job”, instead of the trial’s dialogue, according to a report by The New York Post. 

Court officials are now trying to repair the damage caused to some 30 court cases, including one of a mortgage-fraud trial in which a man was convicted of trying to hire a hit man to take out a witness against him, the proceedings of which were recorded as “gibberish”.

One source told the paper his actions could have given criminals the chance to claim crucial evidence is missing, jeopardising hard-won convictions.

The incident, which took place in 2012, is strikingly similar to a scene in the 1980’s film, The Shining, in which Jack Nicholson repeatedly types “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”

Forty-three-year-old Kochanski was fired for misconduct but denied incorrectly recording the court’s proceedings when contacted by The New York Post, insisting that he was let go because of “substance abuse”, from which he is now in recovery from.

Since the incident, judges have been forced to hold “reconstruction hearings” at which everyone involved in a case has had to testify about what they remember.