Source: http://www.lawlink.com/research/CaseLevel3/60493
Timestamp: 2019-04-26 16:35:23+00:00

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THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. FRANCISCO CARREON, Defendant and Appellant.
Quin Denvir, State Public Defender, under appointment by the Court of Appeal, David Y. Stanley and Gabriel C. Vivas, Deputy State Public Defenders, for Defendant and Appellant.
George Deukmejian and John K. Van de Kamp, Attorneys General, Robert H. Philibosian, Chief Assistant Attorney General, Arnold O. Overoye, Assistant Attorney General, Roger E. Venturi and Willard F. Jones, Deputy Attorneys General, for Plaintiff and Respondent.
It is not disputed that defendant's first language is Spanish and that his grasp of English is sufficiently limited to have required the services of an interpreter.  A defense interpreter fn. 1 was provided him at some, but not all, of the judicial proceedings. Of particular importance is the fact that at the preliminary examination, the appointed defense interpreter was borrowed to interpret witnesses' testimony for the court. The "Case of the Borrowed Interpreter" is a recurring problem which has already generated significant concern by two appellate courts of this state.
Generally, we agree with recent cases upholding the right to a personal defense interpreter throughout all phases of the criminal proceedings, without interruption, unless expressly waived on the record by the defendant after advice of the right. We differ in two important ways. First, the strict rule of Boykin-Tahl is inapplicable to this constitutional right. Second, we hold the failure to swear the defense interpreter is deemed waived unless brought to the attention of the court.
Defendant appeals from his conviction of robbery and simple kidnaping.
The defendant and three other men allegedly used miscellaneous weapons to force a potential robbery victim into his own car. Once in the car, the victim's pockets were searched and some items were taken. The victim was driven around by the 4 for about 10 to 20 minutes. They stopped the car, told the victim to take off his clothes (which he did) and left him. The victim contacted the police and later that evening the vehicle was located and the four men inside were arrested. Defendant was one of these men. The defendant claims that the victim went willingly in the car and that no robbery occurred.
Defendant challenges his conviction constitutionally and statutorily. He argues that because the record does not show the interpreter at the preliminary hearing was sworn, we must infer that no oath was given. Failure to [151 Cal.App.3d 566] give an oath, he continues, violates Evidence Code sections 750 and 751, fn. 2 the United States Constitution, and the California Constitution, by making the interpreter not "present." Defendant further argues that the simultaneous use of the interpreter provided at the preliminary hearing and at trial as both a defense and witness interpreter violates his constitutional rights, state and federal. Defendant also argues that he was not provided an interpreter throughout the preliminary hearing because the record reflected the interpreter was at least momentarily absent. Finally, defendant argues he did not waive the right to an oath requirement or to a separate interpreter by failing to object.
Dual Use of a Court-appointed Interpreter Violates the California Constitution.
[2a] Defendant first contends the trial and preliminary hearing courts erred in appointing a single interpreter, both to assist defendant in communicating with defense counsel and to interpret the testimony of Spanish-speaking witnesses. The crux of his argument is that a separate interpreter should have been present throughout the proceedings to simultaneously translate all spoken English words and to facilitate communication between defendant and his non-Spanish-speaking attorney. We agree.
The municipal court was on notice the defendant would need a defense interpreter prior to the beginning of the preliminary hearing. Indeed, an interpreter was present for this purpose. Irrespective of this knowledge, the court borrowed the interpreter when interpreter services were needed for a witness.
[3a] Article I, section 14 of the California Constitution grants to non-English-speaking criminal defendants the distinct right to an interpreter "throughout the proceedings." It provides in pertinent part: "A person unable to understand English who is charged with a crime has a right to an interpreter throughout the proceedings." (Cal. Const., art. I, ? 14.) The provision was adopted in 1974.  Prior to enactment of this constitutional provision, courts had developed the rule that upon the defendant's showing of necessity, appointment of an interpreter was required as a matter of due process.
 Recently, in People v. Menchaca (1983) 146 Cal.App.3d 1019 [194 Cal.Rptr. 691], after quoting article I, section 14 of the California Constitution, the court succinctly stated, then answered, the question before it: "The essence of the issue presented is whether the presence of an interpreter [151 Cal.App.3d 568] who is facilitating communication between witnesses testifying in defendant's native language, counsel and the trial court fulfills the constitutional mandate; we think not." (Id, at pp. 1023-1024.) The court took judicial notice of the fact that an interpreter interpreting for a witness is often sitting near the witness. As a result, helping the defendant is difficult.
The court was further concerned that in such a case the defendant often has difficulty hearing the translated questions. Like Menchaca, the defendant in the case at bench would have had to hear the questions translated into Spanish to effectively understand the answers. Unlike the present case, however, defense counsel in Menchaca pointed out this difficulty to the court. (Id, at p. 1024.) There was also difficulty on the part of defense counsel in Menchaca in understanding the translations. No such difficulty was expressed by counsel in the present case.
[2b] Critical to the case at bar, however, is the analysis set forth by the Menchaca court when it found that even assuming "defendant could hear and understand the answers given in Spanish, ... it is not thereby established that he spontaneously understood the testimony. As is generally the case, the record is replete with monosyllabic witness answers. Without a clear understanding of the questions, such testimony is essentially meaningless." (Ibid, original italics.) The record of the preliminary hearing in this case likewise contains monosyllabic witness answers.
Finally, defendant persuasively draws upon the broader principle of People v. Chavez, supra, 124 Cal.App.3d 215. As noted before, the court in Chavez reversed a criminal conviction because the trial court had impermissibly allowed defense counsel to perform the additional role of court interpreter. While the court primarily held the arrangement violated the defendant's constitutional right to an interpreter since the attorney's defense obligations to his client rendered "impossible" the task of providing an "accurate and complete" translation of the proceedings to his client, the court also noted the right to effective assistance of counsel "may be significantly impaired" when the defense attorney must simultaneously discharge the interpreter function. (Id, at p. 227.) Respondent rightly points out that Chavez is distinguishable in that defense counsel below did not perform an inhibitory dual role, and that Chavez involved numerous errors. The broader principle of Chavez, however, is that any arrangement which diminishes or inhibits the defendant's right to a defense interpreter or to the effective assistance of counsel is constitutionally impermissible.
It is not only constitutionally essential but also eminently reasonable to require the appointment of a separate interpreter to facilitate communication between a defendant and his counsel "throughout the proceedings" and not to permit the defense interpreter to perform an additional role of interpreting [151 Cal.App.3d 571] witnesses' testimony for the court. The present case illustrates the point. When the Spanish-speaking victim was testifying, the interpreter was chiefly concerned with translating his testimony for the court and was not readily available to facilitate consultation between defendant and his counsel. It is true that if defense counsel and defendant wanted to consult one another, they could indicate their desire to do so and the interpreter would be made available to them, thereby interrupting the proceeding. Such an arrangement would significantly inhibit attorney-client communication. Simply put, it would require the defendant, in order to accomplish the otherwise simple task of consulting his counsel, to somehow make his intention known to the court and call the interpreter back to the counsel table. During the attorney-client conversation, attention undoubtedly would focus upon the scene at the counsel table, as occurs when counsel approach the bench for a private consultation with the court.
For defense counsel's part, the risk of alienating or antagonizing the jury or bench would infuse the mere act of speaking to his client with considerations of strategy and tactics, in contrast to the English-speaking defendant whose consultation would be unobtrusive and likely to go unnoticed. Communication between counsel and defendant should not be hampered by such concerns, nor should the exercise of a constitutional right depend upon whether the defendant is assertive enough to bring attention to himself.
[2d] The special role of the defense interpreter has been noted by the Supreme Court. No one questions the need to call for sworn interpreter services whenever a non-English-speaking witness appears. The witness interpreter enables the witness to understand the questions, and the people present to understand the answers. Additionally, a true record is made of the testimony. However, the witness interpreter performs a "much less burdensome [151 Cal.App.3d 572] function than an interpreter for a party." (Jara v. Municipal Court (1978) 21 Cal.3d 181, 183 [145 Cal.Rptr. 847, 578 P.2d 94], cert. den. (1979)439 U.S. 1067 [59 L.Ed.2d 32, 99 S.Ct. 833].) Although the defense interpreter is not provided to increase the defendant's literacy in his native tongue, the language barrier is removed so as to place the defendant as nearly as possible in the position of his English-speaking counterpart in the criminal court.
Additionally, the defense interpreter is party to privileged communications in nonstructured conditions which may require something more than mere translation. At times the interpreter may have to accede to the desires of defense counsel whose work in the courtroom and in private conferences with the defendant may require the interpreter to vary the more routine services he would perform as a witness interpreter. His presence may assist defense counsel in assuring that testimony is being accurately translated. This potentially partisan role is to be recalled when we later consider the oath requirement.
In this case the victim-witness was unavailable at trial. His testimony from the preliminary hearing was read verbatim into the record in the presence of the jury. Having lacked a defense interpreter during the examination of this crucial witness at the preliminary examination, the use of the testimony at trial compounded any prejudice to the defendant's case arising from the lack of full confrontation of the witness and meaningful consultation with counsel.
Nevertheless, when a defendant cannot communicate in English with counsel or cannot understand the English proceedings, that fact must be brought to the court's attention by the defendant or his counsel. Once that is done and the need for a defense interpreter has been found by the court, it will be presumed that the court has provided an interpreter and that the interpreter is at the defendant's side. The need for the presence of the defense interpreter having been established by the court, a withdrawal of the services of the interpreter for the court's use as a witness interpreter would be so potentially harmful to the defendant that an implied waiver would be inappropriate. "We indulge every reasonable presumption against the waiver of unimpaired assistance of counsel." (People v. Mroczko (1983) 35 Cal.3d 86, 110 [197 Cal.Rptr. 52, 672 P.2d 835].) We do not address the multitude of occasions when the interpreter's services may be interrupted because of the choice of defense counsel, or by counsel approaching the bench, going into chambers, or otherwise allowing the proceedings to go on outside the hearing of his client.
The record in the present case reveals no express waiver by the defendant or counsel, only acquiescence. In these specific circumstances we hold that [151 Cal.App.3d 574] the constitutional right to a defense interpreter may not be waived by mere acquiescence, or nonverbal conduct on the part of the accused. Therefore, defendant in this case did not waive his right to a separate defense interpreter.
As previously noted, we do not agree with that part of the Chavez opinion which holds that borrowing the defense interpreter without an express waiver is reversal per se under Boykin-Tahl. We do not minimize the potential impact of the lack of a necessary defense interpreter on the constitutional rights of due process fairness, confrontation, effective assistance of counsel, and presence. However, we point out by analogy that protection of those rights does not always require a Boykin-Tahl waiver and per se reversal where that waiver has not been obtained.
 We therefore hold that in the absence of a waiver, the failure of the court to provide a needed defense interpreter throughout the proceedings, pursuant to article I, section 14 of our state Constitution, including borrowing the defense interpreter to interpret for a witness, is error; however, it is reversible error only when the defendant can show he suffered [151 Cal.App.3d 575] prejudice from the lack of defense interpreter services. The prejudice, though, need not be actual, only an informed speculation that the defendant's right to effective representation was denied need be shown.
Due to the number and variety of other constitutional rights affected by the services of a defense interpreter, the standard test of prejudice involving violation of state constitutional guarantees in California seems inappropriate, if not unworkable. (See People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 837 [299 P.2d 243], cert. den.,Watson v. Teets (1957) 355 U.S. 846 [2 L.Ed.2d 55, 78 S.Ct. 70].) Evenhanded application would be rendered impossible through use of the Watson standard.
The alternative standard we adopt today affords the defendant more protection, yet is flexible enough to deal with the various and complex situations intertwined with the right to defense interpreter services. This standard has been developed by our Supreme Court to deal with effective assistance of counsel, a primary concern of this court as expressed throughout the opinion we write today.
 We additionally agree with both the Chavez and Menchaca opinions inasmuch as they express concern for a need for a precise rule of criminal procedure to be used by the lower courts which will guarantee that a waiver of such an important right is intelligent and voluntary.
[2e] The facts in this case reveal that the primary witness against the defendant was the complaining party. That party testified at the preliminary hearing wherein he described the crimes of which he was a victim and positively identified the defendant as one of the perpetrators of those crimes. This witness testified in Spanish through the aid of the defense interpreter who was borrowed by the court to function during this testimony as a witness interpreter. Defendant did not waive his right to keep his interpreter at his side. The complaining witness subsequently became unavailable at trial and the preliminary hearing testimony was read verbatim to the jury. Defendant was therefore effectively precluded from ever having the benefit of a defense interpreter during the examination of the witness who delivered the most crucial and devastating evidence against him.
Informed speculation leads to the conclusion that defendant's right to a fair trial through effective assistance of counsel, confrontation of an important adverse witness, and complete mental presence were irretrievably lost during a critical portion of the proceedings. It is therefore unnecessary, under the facts of this case, for further speculation about other, more precise hypothetical examples of potential prejudice which may exist in this factual setting.
Failure to Administer an Oath to an Interpreter Was Not Reversible Error.
 The record shows only one instance where an interpreter was sworn. That oath was administered to an interpreter for the purpose of interpreting for a witness. No record exists which shows the witness interpreter at the preliminary hearing was sworn. Additionally, there is no record of any defense interpreter being sworn. Defendant urges this court to apply to defense interpreters the same oath requirements statutorily required for witness interpreters.
Sections 751 and 752 require witness interpreters be sworn. Those sections provide: "(a) An interpreter shall take an oath that he will make a true interpretation to the witness in a language that the witness understands and that he will make a true interpretation of the witness' answers to questions to counsel, court, or jury, in the English language, with his best skill and judgment.
"(a) When a witness is incapable of hearing or understanding the English language or is incapable of expressing himself in the English language so [151 Cal.App.3d 577] as to be understood directly by counsel, court, and jury, an interpreter whom he can understand and who can understand him shall be sworn to interpret for him.
Since the defendant challenges his conviction on the grounds that the interpreter was not sworn while functioning in the capacity of a witness interpreter or in the capacity of a defense interpreter, it must be decided as a preliminary matter whether any oath whatsoever is required of a defense interpreter.
The Evidence Code clearly requires the swearing of witness interpreters because of its specific references to the interpreter as a witness in sections 751 and 752. Superficially, it appears that section 750 might encompass every sort of interpreter. As a result, a defense interpreter should be required an oath in the same way that a witness would, despite the fact that there is no specific reference to defense interpreters in sections 751 and 752. The more general language of section 750, covering all interpreters, may govern.
Aside from the lack of a specific defense interpreter oath in the code, practical problems arise which are inapplicable to witness interpreters. The defense interpreter functions in court and elsewhere during conferences between defense counsel and defendant. If an oath is requested, or required, it must be given at the earliest opportunity in order to provide for private conferences. Once should be enough for the entire proceeding.
Support for the conclusion that the defense interpreter need not be sworn is found in the comment of the California Law Revision Commission to section 750. It states that section 750 is a codification of earlier cases, giving by example one dealing with interpreters and one with translators. The interpreter case cited discusses only the witness interpreter situation. (Evidence Code With Official Comments (Aug. 1965) 7 Cal. Law Revision Com. Rep. (1965) p. 1114, citing People v. Lem Deo (1901) 132 Cal. 199, 201 [64 P. 265]; see also Cal. Law Revision Com. com. to Evid. Code, ? 750, 29B West's Ann. Evid. Code (1966 ed.) p. 75.) Without section 750 as a basis for an oath requirement for defense interpreters, none exists: the Constitution does not mandate it, nor under this analysis do the statutes.
An argument may be made that defendant is provided a defense interpreter much as he is assigned a private investigator or psychiatrist. In each case the professional licensing requirements of the state may constitute the only prerequisite to such service.  An oath is not required unless testimony is contemplated. (6 Wigmore, Evidence (Chadbourn rev.ed. 1976) ? 1824, pp. 408-409 (1983 pocket supp.) p. 18.) The work of the defense interpreter ordinarily does not become a part of the record, unlike the work of the witness interpreter. Finally, we know of no oath requirement when defendant brings his own personally paid defense interpreter.
 We now proceed on the assumption that the oath is required, for if waiver applies to the failure of the witness interpreter to be sworn, even more so does it apply to the defense interpreter.
Section 751 provides that "[a]n interpreter shall take an oath ...." (Italics added.) The oath requirement is nondiscretionary. Section 710, applicable to witnesses generally, likewise uses the mandatory language: "Every witness before testifying shall take an oath ...." (Italics added.) As Richard M. demonstrates, failure to comply with the mandatory language of section 710 is not ipso facto reversible error. Section 750 makes it clear that this same rule of law for witnesses is statutorily applicable to interpreters.
[23a] Second, at no time during defendant's trial did he or his attorney object to an oath not being administered to the interpreter. The question therefore arises whether defendant's right to object to the court's alleged statutory error has been waived.
We therefore conclude that a non-English-speaking defendant must be provided a defense interpreter upon request of defendant, counsel, or when the need otherwise comes to the attention of the court, unless expressly waived by the defendant and his counsel. Once the need becomes a matter of record, it presumably continues. A violation of this right is reversible error only if an informed speculation by the reviewing court reveals that the defendant's right to effective representation was prejudicially affected under the peculiar facts of the case. Proof of actual prejudice is not required. Whether the interpreter's oath is considered to be optional, or mandated, failure of timely request or objection constitutes a waiver of oath.
Franson, Acting P. J., and Zenovich, J., concurred.
?FN 2. All statutory references are to the Evidence Code unless otherwise indicated.
?FN 3. The council's authority to recommend standards of judicial administration not inconsistent with statute is now granted by article I, section 6 of the California Constitution.

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