Interpreters Required in the Courtroom August 4, 2007

In the latest in a string of cases, a Liberian man’s child abuse case was dropped after a 3 year search for an interpreter of the Vai language. An interpreter was finally located but the judge dismissed the charges anyway and the interpreter was used to inform the accused of the judge’s decision. He was accused of assaulting two relatives, a 7-year-old girl and a 1-year-old girl, in Maryland in 2004.

The first thought that popped off the top of my head when I read this story was – you search for 3 years, finally find what you’re looking for, but now it’s too late!? So we’ll just pay all this money for the search, the arrangements to get the interpreter here, and only use them to tell him he’s free to go!

Why didn’t they just send the interpreter right back home (they’ll have to pay for that anyway), tell Mr. Mahamu Kanneh in English that he’s free to go, and when he sits there because he can’t understand, lock the door again?

In the judge’s opinion the 3 year search and related delays violated this man’s right to a speedy trial. Was 3 years the limit? Or was there discretion to be applied by the judge? If it was judge’s discretion, why does he suddenly release this man just when the interpreter is found and brought in?

Apparently their right to a speedy trial is violated no matter how hard the court system is attempting to locate an interpreter, spending tax dollars all along the way.

Federal law requires public agencies receiving federal money to provide equal access to people with “limited English proficiency”. The courts have ruled this means that a defendant has the right to understand and that interpreters should be available for all court proceedings, usually at the court’s expense.

Perhaps federal immigration laws should be changed to allow people into the US only if the are fluent in a language for which the court systems have interpreters on hand? That seems fair, it’s our country and we should only let in people we can deal with.

This guy has a right to understand. But why doesn’t he have the responsibility to be able to understand? Perhaps they should be expected to speak English if they’ve been in the US more than, say, a year or two? After that, no more money for interpreters.

I don’t know how long he has been in the US. I do know he was in jail for 3 years but apparently didn’t take all that free time to learn some English. His opportunity and how he would do that in jail, I must admit, I’m not sure, but it was a lot of free time. There are people in jail who learn a lot about law and such.

How could it take 3 years for court officials to find an interpreter? There are several factors:

• There are only 100,000 people in the world who speak Vai. And I don’t know how many of those speak English as well (99,999 at most, since Mr. Kanneh apparently doesn’t), which is obviously a requirement to be an interpreter.
• Interpreters must be familiar with the legal system and court terms so they can translate phrases like “blood splatter”.
• They must be able to keep a running translation of what is said.
• They must be able to consistently make it to court. They usually have other jobs so the courts have to work around their schedule.
• Ideally, courts hire full-time interpreters who are certified by the state or a professional organization. They then look for agencies, lists by state judiciaries, or online services to find interpreters. With rare languages, they begin contacting community organizations or embassies which often proves unreliable and they end up hiring people with little or no court background.
• The search gets expensive too. Courtroom personnel must be assigned to the job and interpreters often must be flown in for cases.

Apparently Mr. Kanneh is not a US citizen since there is an English proficiency requirement for citizenship. What’s wrong with deporting these non-US citizens when the burden to defend or prove the crime is too great? It’s the safest thing to do and non-US citizens should not have all the same rights that citizens do.

I thought we allowed people into the US because they can contribute to our country, their communities, etc. How can anyone make a significant contribution to our society and way of life if they can’t, don’t, or won’t learn English?

Here are some other cases that have been threatened with dismissal when interpreters for extremely rare languages can’t be found:

•  In Arizona, a judge threatened to drop human smuggling charges against 3 men because of problems locating Mayan dialect interpreters.
• Arkansas authorities have struggled to find an interpreter for 2 men from the Marshall Islands accused of killing children.
• Prosecutors in Louisville, Kentucky finally found a Bantu interpreter for a Somali man accused of killing his 4 children.

Prosecutors have appealed this case against Mahamu Kanneh, let’s hope they get it reinstated and the interpreter is still willing to show up.

Court officials say it’s becoming more common to see defendants who are native speakers of rare languages and finding interpreters can be extremely difficult. We need some changes to the laws to allow more time for these cases.

When a judge drops a case like this, maybe justice would be served best by removing him from the judge’s bench and giving him the job of finding an interpreter. Then perhaps, the judge would understand just how hard it is.