Opinion ID: 196518
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Lack of a Translator of Defendant's Testimony

Text: 8 Defendant asserts on appeal, and the government concedes, that he requested a translator apparently to translate his Jamaican English into a form of English more easily understood by the jury. This request does not appear on the record now before us, nor does the record show that the court denied a request of such a nature. There also is no indication in the record of a defense objection to the court's alleged refusal to appoint a translator. Several times during the trial, however, defense counsel referred to the possibility that the jury might have difficulty understanding defendant's English. 2 On appeal defense counsel also suggests that defendant, who neither reads nor writes, did not understand some of the questions put to him when he testified. 9 Normally the absence of any record of defendant's request for a translator would be fatal to the claim on appeal. 3 However, the government conceded at oral argument that such a request was made in a chambers conference. We shall, therefore, consider the matter, although, as no objection to the court's refusal to grant the request appears ever to have been made, we review for plain error only. See United States v. Olano, 507 U.S. 725, 736-37, 113 S.Ct. 1770, 1779, 123 L.Ed.2d 508 (1993); see also United States v. Taylor, 54 F.3d 967, 972-973 (1st Cir.1995) (discussing raise-or-waive rule and exception for plain error). 10 The district court's refusal to provide a translator for defendant's testimony was not plain error. The district judge, who heard the defendant speak, had considerable discretion in these circumstances to determine if Arthurs' English testimony was intelligible to the jury. Cf. Gonzalez v. United States, 33 F.3d 1047, 1050-1051 (9th Cir.1994); United States v. Garcia, 818 F.2d 136, 142 (1st Cir.1987). 4 Defendant's counsel at no time asserted on the trial record that defendant suffered from comprehension problems so severe as to deny him due process or the right to a fair and impartial trial. It appears from our own review of the record that defendant answered for the most part responsively, although he occasionally misunderstood and needed to have a question repeated. From what we can ascertain, we cannot say that his language problems were of such a magnitude as to have deprived him of a fair trial. 11 The absence of an objection on this ground left the district court without notice of any claim that language difficulties bothered defendant to the extent now claimed on appeal. Had the court been so notified, it could have made further inquiry and, if necessary, taken steps to deal with the alleged problem. We cannot say, on the basis of the record now before us, that the court committed any error, much less one that seriously affect[s] the fairness, integrity or public reputation of judicial proceedings. Olano, 507 U.S. at 736, 113 S.Ct. at 1779 (citation omitted). 12