Court Opinion

ID: 9760773
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-29 01:14:04.573611+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:29:16.219255
License: Public Domain

WOLLHEIM, J.,
concurring.
I concur with the majority’s holding that the record contains constitutionally sufficient evidence to support the trial court’s implicit finding of fact that defendant understood the Miranda warnings. But, like the trial court, I am troubled by the fact that defendant asked for an interpreter and did not receive one. I write separately to emphasize the difference between the ability to understand and participate in a conversation in English and being able to fully understand legal proceedings.
As the majority states, a suspect who does not understand the Miranda warnings has not validly waived them. State v. Ruiz, 251 Or 193, 195, 444 P2d 32 (1968). The Oregon legislature has also addressed the issue of suspects who cannot readily understand or communicate in English. ORS 133.515 provides, in part, that, if a suspect cannot readily understand or communicate in the English language, then the officer shall make a qualified interpreter available to the suspect before interrogating him or taking his statement.1
*699Here, when defendant said that he could not understand the Miranda warnings, the officer, instead of stopping the questioning until a qualified interpreter was available, repeated the Miranda warnings, explained them, and asked defendant if he understood. The officer testified that defendant said he understood the Miranda warnings. Nonetheless, defendant later asked for an interpreter. The officer told defendant that no interpreter was available and continued questioning defendant.
There is a vast difference, however, between being able to carry on a conversation in English and being able to understand and waive constitutional rights. In Immigrants in Courts, Joanne I. Moore and Ron A. Mamiya explain:
“As a result of language acquisition barriers, many immigrants, especially those who moved to the United States as adults, have mastered their second languages at a conversational level rather than at a ‘fully bilingual’ level. For example, many immigrants are able to master conversational English, with or without grammar problems or heavy accents, so as to be able to talk with employers about job duties, go to the store, or converse with co-workers. Their conversational ability in their native tongues is often much greater and may range up to more complex linguistic levels.”
Joanne I. Moore and Ron A. Mamiya, Interpreters in Court Proceedings, in Immigrants in Courts, 32 (Joanne I. Moore ed., 1999) (emphasis in original). The language used in courts and legal proceedings is much more complex than conversational English. The Oregon Supreme Court Task Force on Racial Ethnic Issues noted:
“The American justice system is a complex amalgam of difficult jargon, concepts and procedures. What judges and lawyers take for granted often seems unintelligible, even nonsensical, to intelligent persons who use the courts. The *700problem is exacerbated for the non-English-speaking litigant. Many non-English-speaking litigants have no understanding of how American justice works. Legal concepts such as arraignment, reasonable doubt, jury trial, relevance, hearsay or motion to suppress are not always understood.”
Report of the Oregon Supreme Court Task Force on Racial/ Ethnic Issues in the Judicial System, 11 (May 1994), http:// courts.oregon.gov/OJD/docs/OSCA/cpsd/courtimprovement/ access/RETF/ch2.pdf (accessed Nov 9, 2010). Additionally, in Immigrants in Courts, Moore and Mamiya state that, “[f]or an immigrant party to be considered bilingual in a legal proceeding, the party’s language level should be at least at the 12th-grade level in both languages. * * * If limited-English-speaking parties do not understand English to this degree, they will miss a large percentage of what is being said unless interpreters are appointed.” Moore and Mamiya, Immigrants in Courts at 32. Moore and Mamiya cite studies finding that “the difficulty of court language [is] at the 14th grade level for Spanish” and “court language is at the 12th-grade level plus technical legal language.” Id. at 240 n 12.
The requirements for being a court interpreter further demonstrate the difference between being able to carry on a conversation in English and fully comprehending legal matters in two languages. The Oregon Judicial Department’s website, which provides information for potential interpreters, states, in part, “A common misperception is that simply being bilingual is enough to interpret in the courts. The task of interpreting requires 32 different knowledge, skills and abilities * * Overview to Working in Oregon’s Courts, http://courts.oregon.gov/OJD/OSCA/ cpsd/InterpreterServices/ OverviewtoWorkinginOregonsCourts.page (accessed Nov 9, 2010). In addition, court interpreters must have knowledge and vocabulary of court proceedings and court procedures. Id.
Even if defendant was able to carry on a conversation in English, there is no evidence in this record that defendant’s understanding of English is at the twelfth-grade level that Moore and Mamiya suggest is necessary for defendant to understand the officers’ questioning and for defendant’s subsequent waiver of his constitutional rights. However, there is *701no requirement under Oregon law that a defendant understand English at the twelfth-grade level.
There is no dispute: This court is bound by the trial court’s findings if there is any evidence to support them, as there is here. But if I were to weigh the evidence again, I might reach a different outcome. Therefore, I concur with the majority’s holding that, on this record, the trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress.

 ORS 133.515 provides, in pertinent part:
“(1) As used in this section:
“(a) ‘Person with a disability’ means a person who cannot readily understand or communicate the English language, or cannot understand the proceedings or a charge made against the person, or is incapable of presenting or assisting in the presentation of a defense, because of deafness, or because of a physical hearing impairment or physical speaking impairment.
“(b) ‘Qualified interpreter’ means a person who is readily able to communicate with the person with a disability, translate the proceedings, and accurately repeat and translate the statements of the person with a disability to the officer or other person.
*699“(2) Upon the arrest of a person with a disability and before interrogating or taking the statement of the person with a disability, the arresting peace officer, or when the arrest is by a private person, the officer to whom the person with a disability is delivered, shall make available to the person with a disability, at the earliest possible time, a qualified interpreter to assist the person with a disability throughout the interrogation or taking of a statement.”