Opinion ID: 2428819
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Appointment of an Interpreter

Text: The Defendant objected at trial to the State using Jerry Lee as an interpreter for his paternal grandmother, Ging Sam Lee. Defendant avers that the trial court erred in allowing Lee, who was related to the victims Arthur Lee (brother), Amy Lee (sister-in-law) and Kai Yin Chuey (grandmother), to act as interpreter during the testimony of Ging Sam Lee, the only survivor of the robbery. Counsel for Defendant contended that allowing Jerry Lee to act as interpreter would be highly prejudicial to his client. The State argued that counsel for Defendant had been advised prior to trial that the State was forced to use Lee because another translator could not be found. Ging Sam Lee does not speak English and understands very little of the language. She speaks a rural dialect of Chinese called Hoi San (phonetically). The trial judge conducted a jury-out hearing on the issue during which Jerry Lee testified that the few people in this state who speak this rare dialect do not speak English well. On cross-examination by Defendant's counsel, Lee was asked, Can you clearly, faithfully, and appropriately translate from your grandmother? Jerry Lee responded: I understand that this will be recorded, and I will not add anything to it. When asked again if he could be fair and impartial in the translation, he responded: I would not say anything more than what my grandmother will say. The State argued at trial that the Defendant had had ample opportunity to find somebody to come in and dispute the translation. On appeal the State argues that there was little opportunity for mistranslation since, less than three months earlier, Jerry Lee had translated Ging Sam Lee's testimony in a related case before the same trial judge. The State points out that the testimony of Ging Sam Lee was limited, establishing only her presence at the scene of the murders, her eyewitness identification of the Defendant and one co-defendant, and the items of jewelry stolen from her person. These were the same matters which Ging Sam Lee had testified about in the trial of Hien Huynh, a former employee of the Jade East Restaurant who had been charged as an accessory before the fact to the murders. In that trial Huynh was found not guilty. The trial court, in allowing Jerry Lee to serve as a Chinese language interpreter for his grandmother, noted for the record that Lee had performed his duties in a neutral, detached way in the prior trial of Hien Huynh. Before translating, Lee swore that he would translate from Chinese to English to the best of his ability and skill. He then gave the oath to Mrs. Lee. This is an issue of first impression in Tennessee. Appointment of an interpreter of a witness's testimony in a criminal case is a matter for the trial court's discretion subject to reversal only for abuse of that discretion. [3] We realize that it sometimes may be necessary, as in this case, to appoint an interested interpreter where no competent disinterested interpreter is available. However, the better practice is to avoid appointing a friend or relative of a party or witness as an interpreter. The court should attempt to appoint a neutral, unbiased interpreter, one who has no interest in the outcome of the trial. Almon v. State, 21 Ala. App. 466, 109 So. 371, 372 (1926) (Disinterested interpreter should be used when possible); Western & A.R. Co. v. Deitch, 136 Ga. 46, 70 S.E. 798 (1911) (Where possible, a disinterested interpreter should be used); Kley v. Abell, supra at 628 ([The] most competent and least biased person should be appointed [as interpreter]); State In Interest of R.R., supra 398 A.2d at 86 (Interpreters should be disinterested because interested parties may distort translations). In this case the trial judge was satisfied that no disinterested person was available who could adequately translate the witness' testimony, and he was also convinced that Lee would give an accurate and unbiased translation. Because the Defendant has not demonstrated that the translation was inaccurate, there has been no showing that Jerry Lee's service as an interpreter caused any prejudice to the Defendant's case. Ms. Lee's testimony and Jerry Lee's translation were recorded. This audio recording of the trial proceedings was and is available to both parties. The audio recording could have been verified by an interpreter who may not have been available at trial. See Kay v. State, 260 Ark. 681, 543 S.W.2d 479 (1976). However, this has not been done and we are left to speculate as to the accuracy of the translation. A party contending prejudice must show prejudice. The voir dire examination of Jerry Lee established his expertise in understanding the Chinese dialect spoken by his grandmother. His own expertise with the English language had been demonstrated during his earlier testimony. He also took an oath to render a true translation to the best of his skill and ability. Nothing in the record suggests that Jerry Lee failed to abide by his oath. Although Tenn.R.Evid. 604 was not in effect at the time of this trial (effective January 1, 1990), the requirements of the rule were met and support the trial court's ruling on this issue.