By order of this Court entered May 14, 1996, we held the appeal in abeyance and remanded the matter for a hearing to determine whether defendant was present at certain challenged sidebar conferences and, if not, whether there was a waiver of his right to be present ( 227 AD2d 217). Such a hearing was held before Justice Carol Berkman and included the testimony of the Trial Judge, who clearly recalled that defendant was present "without exception" at every sidebar where a prospective juror was questioned and that defendant did not waive his right to be present. Based on this and other testimony, Justice Berkman concluded that "the People have established by far more than a preponderance of the evidence that defendant was present for all the conferences with the jurors". Accordingly, we reject defendant's contention that he was deprived of his fundamental right to be present at material stages of the voir dire, which is the sole issue raised on appeal.