BERNE — Town Judge Albert Raymond granted a mistrial Monday after a defense attorney claimed he hadn’t been given proper notice that a witness would contradict her prior statements.

Richard Chrysler of Switzkill Road was on trial for second-degree harassment, a violation, after Fallon Garcia, his ex-wife, said he threatened her during a Thanksgiving Day phone call about the custody of their son.

In a sworn statement to police, Garcia said the phone call was made around 11:30 a.m. On the stand, she said it was around 9:45 in the morning, corresponding with phone-log records subpoenaed for the case.

The sudden change of her story, attorney Paul Van Ryn argued, meant he wasn’t able to prepare for the trial.

Van Ryn, Chrysler’s attorney, said the phone call never took place, and that Chrysler wasn’t even home at the time. Chrysler was originally charged with aggravated harassment, a misdemeanor.

According to the Albany County Sheriff’s Office arrest report, Garcia reported that Chrysler told her he would kill her and hide the body in the woods, as a “solution” to full-time custody. Chrysler didn’t respond to calls and he was not home when officers tried to facilitate a Nov. 28 exchange of the boy between his parents, the report says.

During the roughly two-and-a-half hours of the trial, the lawyers met privately with Judge Raymond for two sessions in his office, each lasting more than a half hour.

Caroline Murray, an assistant district attorney from the Albany County District Attorney’s Office, conferred with the prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Shanza Malik, throughout the trial and directed her objections with whispers.

At one point, Van Ryn could be heard from inside the judge’s chambers complaining that he was being “double-teamed” as simultaneous arguments were made by both Murray and Malik.

Reappearing after a second meeting, Van Ryn moved for a mistrial, to which Malik objected, saying it was merely a “ministerial defect.” Malik asked that she be allowed to provide case law supporting her position and to have the case resume. Instead, Raymond encouraged both sides to submit briefs on whether the case can be prosecuted again.

A temporary order of protection against Chrysler was extended for another six months.