Opinion ID: 2525859
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Motion to modify or correct the trial record

Text: When, as in this case, the inaccuracies are discovered during a pending appeal from the judgment of conviction, the challenging party should move to amend or correct the trial record pursuant to NRAP 10(c). In this situation, we adopt a similar but slightly altered procedure patterned after Baltazar-Monterrosa that should be followed in addressing translation inaccuracies under NRAP 10(c). The procedure we adopt also looks to the more detailed language in the analogous Rule 10(e) of the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure. First, the challenging party should file a motion with the district court to modify or correct the trial record. NRAP 10(c). Second, each party should have its own interpreter review the translated testimony for discrepancies. Baltazar-Monterrosa, 122 Nev. at 616, 137 P.3d at 1144. If discrepancies exist, [t]he party seeking [modification or correction to the record] has the burden of demonstrating the inaccuracy of the statements and that it fundamentally alters the substance of the [testimony]. Id. (emphases added). Third, where possible, the parties should determine and stipulate to the translation that is more accurate. See FRAP 10(e)(2)(a). Fourth, in the event that the parties are unable to stipulate to an accurate translation, the district court should appoint an independent and, if available, certified court interpreter to review the translations, Baltazar-Monterrosa, 122 Nev. at 616, 137 P.3d at 1144, and the district court should make findings and determine which translation accurately reflects the testimony at trial and certify that translation as part of the record for review. See NRAP 10(c); FRAP 10(e)(2)(b). Fifth, the district court should preserve a copy of each translation for the record on appeal. Baltazar-Monterrosa, 122 Nev. at 617, 137 P.3d at 1144. In this case, the district court never reviewed or made any findings to determine whether the re-translation was accurate or fundamentally altered the testimony at trial. However, the State stipulated to accept the re-translation without further evidentiary findings by the district court. Therefore, under the limited circumstances of this case, we accept the re-translation as part of the record. On appeal, Sonny raises several interpretation errors, some of which were identified during trial. During Sonny's testimony, it was noted three separate times that the interpreter was not translating all the proceedings for Sonny or adequately interpreting Sonny's testimony to the jury. Specifically, Sonny contends that the court-appointed interpreter omitted certain words from his trial testimony in some instances and reported summaries rather than verbatim accounts of his testimony in others. It was also noted at trial that the interpreter answered questions that had not been asked, that he answered questions on his own without waiting for Sonny to answer, and that he editorialized when translating Sonny's answers. Although Sonny did not formally object at trial, concerns about the adequacy of the translation were brought to the district court's attention, and the court admonished the interpreter for failing to accurately and properly translate the entirety of Sonny's testimony and the court proceedings. However, Sonny asserts that he discovered the most egregious errors post-judgment, after he hired an independent interpreter to re-translate his trial testimony. Sonny's independent interpreter indicated that the court-appointed interpreter made numerous interpretation errors that, combined with the State's impeachment based on the translation errors, called Sonny's veracity into question. [3] We conclude that most of the interpretation errors were technical. For example, Sonny argues that a translation error allowed the prosecutor to challenge his credibility with respect to whether he had talked to a friend about Raynna flirting with another man. Sonny testified that he spoke about his relationship with Raynna to certain friends. On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked Sonny whether he had spoken with a particular friend about Raynna's flirting with another man. According to Sonny's independent interpreter, when the trial interpreter translated the question for Sonny, the trial interpreter used the Laotian term for tempting instead of flirting. In response to the question, Sonny adamantly answered that he had never had such a conversation with his friend. And when the prosecutor asked twice more whether Sonny was ever concerned about Raynna flirting with other men, the interpreter did not use the Laotian term for flirting, but instead used the terms signaling get close to and like each other. To contradict Sonny's testimony, the State then called Sonny's friend as a witness, who reluctantly testified that Sonny had spoken to him approximately one month before the shooting about Raynna flirting with another man. Because of the interpreter errors, Sonny argues that his veracity was wrongly called into question. However, because the erroneously interpreted terms were similar and the interpretation of the trial testimony in its entirety was sufficiently accurate and adequate, we conclude that the interpretation errors were technical and did not fundamentally alter the trial testimony. As another example, Sonny argues that a translation error allowed the prosecutor to dispute his veracity concerning the time at which he met Raynna at the Gold Spike Casino the Monday before the shooting. According to Sonny's independent translator, Sonny said that he met Raynna sometime in the afternoon, but he couldn't remember what time. However, the trial interpreter translated Sonny's testimony by stating that Sonny met with Raynna at the Gold Spike Casino in the afternoon at approximately 4 p.m. The prosecution then rebutted and attempted to contradict Sonny's translated testimony by submitting into evidence records showing that Raynna clocked into work on the Tuesday before the shooting at 7:41 p.m. We conclude that Raynna's actions on Tuesday evening do not contradict Sonny's testimony about the events that occurred on Monday afternoon and, therefore, the interpreter's error did not have the effect of impugning his veracity in front of the jury. While most of the errors or categories of error are not prejudicial, we do identify one error that warrants a more thorough discussion, namely, the interpreter's translation of Sonny's testimony regarding the firing of the gun and the questions related to that testimony. But under the test we adopt in this opinion, we conclude that although Sonny demonstrated that the inaccuracies in translation fundamentally altered the context of his statements as to this interpretation error, he has not demonstrated prejudice sufficient to warrant a new trial because there was overwhelming evidence of guilt. See U.S. v. Gomez, 908 F.2d 809, 811 (11th Cir.1990); see also U.S. v. Long, 301 F.3d 1095, 1105 (9th Cir.2002). During cross-examination, Sonny was questioned extensively concerning his actions after he shot Raynna in the leg, and when he shot Raynna in the head. The State repeatedly asked Sonny whether he remembered cocking the gun a second time, aiming the gun, and pulling the trigger. According to Sonny's independent interpreter, the court-appointed interpreter made a series of mistakes in interpreting the State's questions to Sonny and interpreting Sonny's responses. First, the court-appointed interpreter used a colloquial term to refer to the hammer of a gun, a word that neither Sonny nor his independent interpreter appeared to recognize. Second, the State called the gun a single action only gun, and the court-appointed interpreter misinterpreted this as a one-shot-at-a-time gun. Third, the court-appointed interpreter used several different terms to refer to the cocking of the gun, only one of which, according to his independent interpreter, Sonny understood. Finally, the State used the phrase pulled the trigger multiple times when questioning Sonny regarding his knowledge that he was aiming at Raynna when he fired the second shot. According to Sonny's interpreter, the court-appointed interpreter misinterpreted the phrase pulled the trigger as shot. After reviewing the trial transcript, the independent translator claimed that Sonny misunderstood cocking the gun to mean pulling the trigger and that the culmination of the court-appointed interpreter's mistakes made it appear as though Sonny acknowledged re-cocking the gun on the second shot when it was his testimony that he did not re-cock the gun. Sonny further argues that the State used his misinterpreted answers to prove he acted with premeditation when he shot and killed Raynna. Under the test we adopt today, Sonny has the burden to demonstrate that the court-appointed interpreter's translation was inaccurate and that the discrepancies fundamentally altered the substance of his testimony. Sonny's primary defense throughout the trial was the absence of premeditation. But because Sonny misunderstood the translator and because the translator mistranslated Sonny's testimony, Sonny appeared to have unintentionally admitted re-cocking the gun, which the State used as evidence of Sonny's premeditation. Therefore, we conclude that the court-appointed interpreter's errors did fundamentally alter the context of Sonny's testimony. However, we determine that Sonny's characterization of his actions and the court-appointed interpreter's inaccuracies in translation of his testimony were not prejudicial and therefore a new trial is not warranted in this case. At trial, a ballistics expert testified regarding the design of the gun Sonny used to shoot Raynna. The expert explained that in order to fire the gun a second time, it must be re-cocked. Additionally, in his statement to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, Sonny admitted that he fired the gun two times, perhaps even three times. Therefore, even if the court-appointed interpreter had correctly translated Sonny's testimony that he did not re-cock the gun, Sonny's explanation would be contradictory and perhaps impossible given the expert testimony regarding the design of the gun. Thus, overwhelming evidence supports the conclusion that Sonny acted with premeditation. Consequently, we conclude the result at trial would have been the same had the translator correctly translated Sonny's testimony.