Court Opinion

ID: 9750875
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:43:18.979039+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:12:39.220643
License: Public Domain

*87REID, Associate Judge,
with whom MACK, Senior Judge, joins, concurring:
We concur in the judgment of affirmance in this difficult matter. On the record before us, we believe the trial judge managed to resolve complex interpretation issues without compromising minimal requirements of fundamental fairness, as reflected in the Interpreter Act. Defense counsel both acquiesced in the trial court’s solutions to a complicated problem and failed to object to procedures for payment of interpreters retained initially by the United States Attorney’s office. However, we disagree with Judge Schwelb’s interpretation of D.C.Code §§ 31-2704, -2711, and -2712 (1996).
When Ko’s trial began, there were two sets of interpreters. One set had been retained by the United States Attorney’s office to provide interpreter services for government witnesses. The other set had been appointed by the trial court. In mid-trial, and after questions had been raised about the impartiality of the government’s interpreters, the trial court decided that it should enter into a subcontract with the government’s interpreters. However, these interpreters continued to be paid directly by the United States Attorney’s office, and were required to report daily to that office as a condition of payment. The record before us does not reveal that the qualifications of the government interpreters were reviewed either before the commencement of Ko’s trial, or when the trial court decided to execute a subcontract with them. In our view, these procedures and arrangements, allowing initially for the hiring of interpreters by the United States Attorney’s office to perform in-court interpreter services, and direct payment of these interpreters by the United States Attorney’s office, violated the Interpreter Act.
First, we believe § 31-2704 required all interpreters in this matter to be appointed by the court. Section 31-2702(a) provides in pertinent part, “[t]he appointing authority shall appoint a qualified interpreter upon the request of the communication-impaired person,” defined in part under § 31-2701(2) as “a person ... who does not speak English.” Section 31-2701(1) defines “appointing authority” as “the presiding judge of any court of the District of Columbia, the chairperson of any District of Columbia board or commission, the director or commissioner of any department or agency of the District of Columbia, the chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia or the chairperson of any committee of the Council of the District of Columbia conducting a hearing, or any other person presiding at any hearing or other proceeding in which a qualified interpreter is required_” The list of appointing authorities does not include the United *88States Attorney or his agents. Hence, in our view, allowing the United States Attorney’s office to bring its own interpreters to court to perform in-court interpreter services constitutes a violation of the plain words of the Interpreter Act.
Second, § 31-2704 requires the appointing authority, prior to appointment, to “make a preliminary determination that the interpreter is able to accurately communicate with and translate information to and from the communication-impaired person involved.” Here, the record does not reflect that the trial court carried out this statutory mandate either before the government’s interpreters began to render service, or when the trial court decided to enter into a subcontract with the government’s interpreters. Nor was there any certification from the Office of Interpreter Services that the government’s interpreters were qualified for the task of translating various Chinese dialects.
Third, under the Interpreter Act, all interpreters are required to be paid by the Office of Interpreter Services. Section 31-2711(b)(6) states, clearly, “[t]he Office [of Interpreter Services] shall pay for the salaries, fees, expenses, and costs incident to providing interpreter services as set forth in § 31-2712.” Section 31-2712(b) repeats this mandate, “[t]he salaries, fees, expenses, and costs incident to providing the services of interpreters under this chapter shall be paid by the Office.” Thus, the statutory command is that the Office of Interpreter Services must pay the interpreters. The arrangement here under which the United States Attorney’s office paid the salaries of interpreters initially retained by that office, and later subcontracted for by the trial court, was fundamentally at odds with the statutory mandate. Direct payment by the United States Attorney’s office of interpreters who were required to make daily trips to the United States Attorney’s office in connection with their pay, gives the appearance of partiality. The government’s interpreters knew that their salaries would be paid by the United States Attorney’s office. This arrangement raised the specter of allegiance and loyalty to the United States Attorney’s office as payroll officer, rather than to the court as a later subcontracting agent. To the extent that Super. Ct.Crim. R. 28(b) permits the United States Attorney’s office to pay interpreters directly, it conflicts with §§ 31-2711 and -2712 of the Interpreter Act, which assigns that duty to the Office of Interpreter Services, and is invalid.23
At the outset of his legal discussion, Judge Schwelb writes,
If a defendant who is unable to speak and understand English is compelled to face criminal charges without access to effective translation of the proceedings by a competent and impartial interpreter, then his ability to present a defense may be substantially undermined, and there is “a serious possibility of grave injustice.” State v. Masato Karumai, 101 Utah 592, 126 P.2d 1047, 1050 (Utah 1942).
We fully agree with the wisdom embedded in this quotation. The emphasis is placed on a “competent and impartial interpreter.” In our view, the plain language of the Interpreter Act requires both competent and impartial interpreters. The Office of Interpreter Services is assigned a major role to ensure competency and impartiality of interpreters. It is assigned responsibility for formulating and applying “reasonable standards for evaluating the credentials and qualifications of persons who may serve as qualified interpreters in bilingual proceedings” by considering “such factors as education, training, experience, demonstrated current competence, and certification by a recognized private, federal, or state registry, board, or other organization that is determined by the Office to possess a sufficient level of competence, training, testing, and certification of interpreters in the particular language specialty of the interpreter.” Section 31 — 2711(b)(1). *89It is also assigned the duty of issuing “rules that prescribe a schedule of reasonable fees for services rendered by interpreters” as well as establishing “rules governing the method of payment.” Section 31 — 2711(b)(5).
Unless trial judges carry out the mandate of a preliminary determination of an interpreter’s qualifications under § 31-2704; and unless the payment scheme, set forth in §§ 31-2711 and -2712 to ensure impartiality, is adhered to rigorously, a defendant may be denied his statutory right to a competent and impartial interpreter. Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons we concur in the judgment in this matter, but disagree with Judge Schwelb’s interpretation of D.C.Code §§ 31-2704, -2711 and -2712.

. Rule 28(b) provides, "Interpreters. The Court may appoint an interpreter of its own selection and may fix the reasonable compensation of such interpreter. Such compensation shall be paid out of funds provided by law or by the government, as the Court may direct.” We express no view as to whether the Interpreter Act would permit the United States Attorney’s office to pay a sum of money directly to the Office of Interpreter Services to be used for the payment of interpreters by the Office of Interpreter Services.