This is absolute insanity (and as you read this post keep in mind that the official language of Liberia is English)

[wiegie]

Sex-abuse case dropped because of delays in search for interpreter

 

ROCKVILLE, Maryland (AP) -- Charges against a man accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a 7-year-old girl have been dropped because the court took too long to find an interpreter fluent in his native West African language.

 

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Katherine D. Savage dismissed the nearly three-year-old case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, saying the delays had violated the Liberian immigrant's right to a speedy trial.

 

"This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time," Savage said from the bench Tuesday. She said she was mindful of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

 

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the dismissal. They cannot refile the charges.

 

Police arrested Kanneh, of Gaithersburg, in August 2004 after witnesses told police he assaulted the girl multiple times. He spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors.

 

Prosecutors at first maintained Kanneh could understand the proceedings without translation into his native Vai, a tribal language that linguists estimate is spoken by about 100,000 people mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

 

Prosecutors pointed out that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English.

 

A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed and judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice. But officials could not find a competent interpreter of Vai who would stay.

 

The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. A third Vai interpreter was located, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

 

In recent weeks court officials had found a suitable interpreter, but Savage ruled that too much time had already passed.

 

Prosecutor Maura Lynch had argued that dismissing the indictment "after all the efforts the state has made to accommodate the defendant would be fundamentally unfair."

 

Kanneh's attorney, Theresa Chernosky, declined to comment.

 

Loretta E. Knight, the court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai. She said court officials contacted the Liberian Embassy and courts in all but three states.

 

The Washington Post reported that it identified three Vai interpreters Thursday with help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters, including one in Gaithersburg.

Edited July 23, 2007 by wiegie

[General Itals]

I'll see your insanity and raise you some lunacy.

 

This last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the confession, given in English, and ultimately overturned the conviction of a Somali man for raping a fourteen year old mentally handicapped girl because the man was not read his Miranda rights in his native language.

 

Here's the story.

 

Minnesota Supreme Court overturns conviction because suspect not given rights in native language

twincities.com ^ | 07/19/07 | SHANNON PRATHER

 

 

 

The Minnesota Supreme Court today overturned a sexual assault conviction of a Somali man, who made incriminating statements in English, but was not given his Miranda rights in his native language.

 

Plymouth police arrested Burhan Mohammed Farrah on Nov. 20, 2003, in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A 14-year-old developmentally disabled girl reported being attacking in the same parking lot.

 

An officer read Farrah his rights in English and had him sign a rights waiver written in English.

 

"Do you understand your rights?" the officer asked.

 

"Okay. Little, yeah," Farrah replied.

 

Police proceeded with the interrogation in English and Farrah made incriminating statements to police in English. He was charged and convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact in Hennepin County District Court. Farrah was provided an interpreter at his trial.

 

After examining the police interrogation, the Supreme Court in a 4 - 3 ruling threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court ruled it was unclear whether Farrah's waiver of rights "was made with a full awareness of both the nature of the rights being abandoned and the consequences of the decision to abandon it."

 

"To protect or facilitate the exercise of constitutional rights, it is the express policy in Minnesota to provide qualified interpreters to assist persons in legal proceedings who are handicapped in communication," writes Chief Justice Russell Anderson for the court.

 

Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea, joined by justices Helen Meyer and G. Barry Anderson, disagreed with the majority finding that Farrah's English skills "were sufficient to support a knowing waiver."

Edited July 23, 2007 by General Itals

[H8tank]

Lawyers.

[Savage Beatings]

This makes me angry.

[AtomicCEO]

This makes me angry.

 

I think we should pass a law barring foreigners.

[Ursa Majoris]

I'll see your insanity and raise you some lunacy.

 

This last week, the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the confession, given in English, and ultimately overturned the conviction of a Somali man for raping a fourteen year old mentally handicapped girl because the man was not read his Miranda rights in his native language.

 

Here's the story.

 

Minnesota Supreme Court overturns conviction because suspect not given rights in native language

twincities.com ^ | 07/19/07 | SHANNON PRATHER

The Minnesota Supreme Court today overturned a sexual assault conviction of a Somali man, who made incriminating statements in English, but was not given his Miranda rights in his native language.

 

Plymouth police arrested Burhan Mohammed Farrah on Nov. 20, 2003, in the parking lot of an apartment complex. A 14-year-old developmentally disabled girl reported being attacking in the same parking lot.

 

An officer read Farrah his rights in English and had him sign a rights waiver written in English.

 

"Do you understand your rights?" the officer asked.

 

"Okay. Little, yeah," Farrah replied.

 

Police proceeded with the interrogation in English and Farrah made incriminating statements to police in English. He was charged and convicted of fourth-degree criminal sexual contact in Hennepin County District Court. Farrah was provided an interpreter at his trial.

 

After examining the police interrogation, the Supreme Court in a 4 - 3 ruling threw out the conviction and ordered a new trial. The court ruled it was unclear whether Farrah's waiver of rights "was made with a full awareness of both the nature of the rights being abandoned and the consequences of the decision to abandon it."

 

"To protect or facilitate the exercise of constitutional rights, it is the express policy in Minnesota to provide qualified interpreters to assist persons in legal proceedings who are handicapped in communication," writes Chief Justice Russell Anderson for the court.

 

Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea, joined by justices Helen Meyer and G. Barry Anderson, disagreed with the majority finding that Farrah's English skills "were sufficient to support a knowing waiver."

I wonder whether all those hard hits are affecting Alan Page's brain?

[Ill Nuts]

THERE ARE 4 LIGHTS

[Savage Beatings]

THERE ARE 4 LIGHTS

 

Capt. Picard

 

I hate myself for knowing that.

[isleseeya]

Liberarians are especially difficult when books are returned late to them