Destroyed trial record made appellate review impossible, so convictions were set aside and the matter ordered for retrial.

Where the trial court record had been destroyed and no copies were available, the appellate court held that the appeal could not be properly examined because the statutory duty to consider the record was mandatory. In the absence of the record, there was no effective basis to test the convictions on appeal, and no practical course remained for a fair disposal of the matter. The convictions were therefore set aside and the case was ordered to be retried.

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Issues: Whether, after the trial court records were destroyed and no copies of the record were available, the convictions could be sustained in appeal or the convictions had to be set aside and the matter retried.

Analysis: The appeal could not be effectively heard without the record of the case, and the statutory requirement that the appellate court examine the record was treated as mandatory. In the absence of the destroyed record, the court accepted that no other practical course remained for proper disposal of the appeal.

Conclusion: The convictions were set aside and the case was ordered to be retried.

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