Accused immigrant child molester gets off because of lack of translator Update: FNC report–producer spoke to Kanneh in English Update: Case will be appealed
Bumped…originally posted July 22, 2007 @ 22:49
The latest…Video…
Thank you very much for sharing your concerns. Just this morning, the Office of the Attorney General has decided to take this case and appeal it to the Court of Special Appeals.
Raquel M. Guillory
Director of Communications
Office of the Attorney General
Charges against a man accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a 7-year-old girl have been dropped because the court took too long to find an interpreter fluent in his native West African language.
Montgomery County Circuit Judge Katherine D. Savage dismissed the nearly three-year-old case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, saying the delays had violated the Liberian immigrant’s right to a speedy trial.
I’ll be looking more into the story tomorrow, but thought I’d open a thread because I’m getting so much e-mail about it. If any of you have dealt with similar cases, let me know.
Update Key questions:
Who is the court-ordered psychiatrist who determined that Kanneh needed a Vai translator?
How was this determination made?
How was the psychiatrist chosen?
Update: Video–Julie Banderas and James Rosen reported yesterday that a Fox News producer spoke to Kanneh in English.
Update: Give WaPo’s Ernest Londono props for reporting the story. His coverage has sparked national interest in the case. That’s a good thing. You’ll be interested to know that the prosecutor’s voice message box was full by 8:30am Eastern this morning. There are lingering questions here not just about the speedy trial justification for letting Kanneh off, but also about the circumstances of Kanneh’s grant of asylum, and at bottom, the shady claims of his alleged limited English proficiency made by his defense team. Stay tuned.
***
For those of you following the Zina Linnik case, here’s the latest:
The man police believe abducted and killed 12-year-old Zina Linnick of Tacoma whose disapperance set off a region-wide AMBER Alert earlier this month will be back in a Pierce County courtroom later Monday.
The Tacoma courtroom is expected to be packed as prosecutors charge Therapon Adhahn, 42, with aggravated murder in the first degree for the kidnap and murder of Zina Linnick. Adhahn’s arraignment is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
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Trackbacks
- 100% Preventable! Welcome To The Crazy Edition! » Freedom Folks
- Judge lets man accused of child molestation go because court could find translator « Golos - The Voice
- Alleged Child Rapist Goes Free Because Court Can’t Find Interpreter « Volunteer Opinion Journal
- Bill's Bites
- Michelle Malkin » Document drop: Indictment of Mahamu D. Kanneh
- Jesus is Lord, A Worshipping Christian’s Blog » Blog Archive » Judge Drops Rape Charges Against Liberian Over Lack of Interpreter
- Judge Drops Rape Charges Against Liberian by Lack of Interpreter | JesusMySavior
- Greta thinks the prosecutor should have found the interpeter? « Volunteer Opinion Journal
- Kennah also accused of abusing 18-month-old child « Volunteer Opinion Journal
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Deport them now!
Deportation abyss is an understatement. How could somthing like this fall threw the cracks? Outragous!!!!!!
English is the official language of Liberia. (Liberia, though an African nation, was founded by emancipated American black slaves.)
So why should an immigrant from a country where English is the official language need an interpreter?
Wait till O’Reilly hears about THIS.
Wait till Geraldo hears abot THIS.
This is off the charts insanity.
I have a better idea: deport some of these judges!
Contact info for this latest moron …
Hon. Katherine D. Savage 240-777-9372
Oh, of course, let’s dismiss the case because it violates his right to a speedy trial. I must’ve missed the day where we had some consideration about the rights of the victim. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want people sitting around for three years on spurious charges, but this doesn’t appear to be the case and if the government has ever paid $700 for a toilet seat, why can’t they open the phone book and contract a translator for 30 minutes of work? Let’s waste some money to get real justice served.
So like rape and murder are OK if you pretend that you cannot understand that rape and murder are wrong? They must be dancing in the Streets of Deerborne.
I read about this earlier, I just don’t think I can be surprised by the judiciary anymore, disappointed but not surprised.
The report I saw on Fox was that this loser did in fact speak English. He just (aaah, poor thing) didn’t speak enough to “functionally understand” what was going on.
How the h*ll is this dumb judge explaining her actions to the child rape victim’s family? I’ll bet if it was her daughter, she’d have found a translator in less than thirty minutes.
Much as I hate to see this creep out of prison before, well, ever I must confess I see the judge’s argument here.
As I understand it, the law requires that if a person cannot sufficiently understand English, an interpreter must be provided. Also, the accused is granted the right to a speedy trial so that if the prosecution has a weak case, they can’t just lock them up forever and try them “when we get around to it”.
Three years just to find an interpreter is an unconscionable delay that did violate a statutory right of the defendant, thus the judge had to dismiss the case. Maybe we should be lambasting the DA for dragging their feet for several years before actually, you know, trying the case.
Wasn’t he able to talk to his lawyer? Isn’t it part of a defense lawyer’s job to explain legal matters to the defendent?
Frankly, I could give a rat’s arse what language barrier existed.
RAPE doesn’t have a language barrier.
HE did it and should have been convicted.
That judge should have to be forced to have him babysit her kids.
Having worked in the medical profession for over a decade, I am stumped by this case.
By law, we have to provide translation services to all of our patients. Normally, we have someone in our offices that speaks spanish, and then depending on region, maybe a few other languages. For everything else, we have a telephone service.
When I managed services in the Ft Lauderdale region, I would receive calls, visits, and mailers from at least 30 companies that provided this service. Many were national call centers. Most would have a translator on the phone in less than 10 minutes. And we had some funny requests……. islands I’d never heard of in the Pacific, at least 4 different Tagalog dialects, all sorts of tribal languages, and of course virtually every Carribean Island.
How the hell is it that no one, and this includes the prosecution, in that court system could manage to pick up a phone, nor do a Google search on translation services? How about the independent psychologist, whom I am certain gets the same mailings that I used to get?
Scary part: Is this a new trial defense balloon, and could we see this used by terrorists bent on destroying America and avoiding prosecution?
Why was the bond only $10,000 in the first place? This needs to be appealed. I’m sure there is tons of proof he understands english perfectly well, get his High School transcripts, Bank account apps. Witnesses, etc. I also agree the DA dropped the ball but I heard he waived his right to a speedy trial, this Judge needs to be held accountable also.
It was reported on a local radio station that the molester graduated from a US high school and junior college. He can speak English. This is a gross miscariage of justice. Thed judge needs to be impeached.
Crashemt,
I just googled Vai Translators and this popped up.
http://www.translatorscafe.com/cafe/translation-job30525.htm
But we all know this is just a BS way of getting away with rape by the defense.
It’s really sad that the only way most people will find out about this is through Michelle’s site. No news media outlet takes the time to report this kind of thing.
This is sick. We’re supposed to be the greatest country in the world. Why are we acting like the most corrupt?
“A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed and judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice”
I’d like to see how this Quack came to the conclusion that an interpreter was necessary.
This is ‘judicial rape’! As much as this person needs to go away so do the justices that make weak excuses for their lack of integrity. Term limits for judges too!!!
Actually, that’s wrong. As I noted, you should give the Washington Post props for reporting the story in the first place. The wires and cable TV have picked it up as well.
The story here is NOT media bias.
What happened to ‘a basic understanding of the English language’, as per immigration rules?
Watching FOX news at the moment and it seems that the problems are from too many immigrants who never learned the language. Here we go again with not qualifying the people that come here.
This just has me steaming!
The more I ponder what is happening to our USED to be USA, the sicker I am getting.
It is soooo out of control..first with the illegals, terrorists, crooks in the Senate….does it or will it end?
I guess not. If you are a Christian, I guess this IS our end times when Satan rules….man is no longer in control.
Don’t let them in in the first place. End chamberpot immigration from the turd world.
What everyone is missing on this issue.
IF English was the official National Language this would not have happened.
There are many different dialects of Spanish. Illegals speak a type of Mestizo, “street/slang” Spanish, which is quite different from the Castillian Spanish we all learned in high school. I took 5 years of high-school, grammatically correct, Spanish, and the illegals can’t understand a word I say!
That’s why we have one language in this country….ENGLISH!!!! Learn it and thrive, abuse it and suffer the consequences.
In China this fella would have been shot and the bill for the bullet sent to his family.
So, because the case was dismissed, can’t the proscution refile charges? I don’t think there is a double jeopardy issue if a trial never took place.
So why hasn’t he been recharged and rearrested? I’m sure the statute of limitations is longer than 3 years.
Any legals out there that could shed a little light here?
Rhe Official language of Liberia is English. Everyone in Liberia speaks some English.
We have a similar case in Williamsburg, VA. In 2005, Oswaldo Martinez, a presumed deaf and dumb illegal alien from El Salvador, stalked,raped, sodomized, tortured and murderd a 16 year old girl, Brittany Binger. Because Oswaldo couldn’t speak English, and because he was presumed to be unable to hear and speak, and because he was presumed to be drunk at the time of the incident, the courts assigned him speech therapists and psychological analysts to get him ready for trial. Here we are in 2007, and Oswaldo is still not ready for trial.
You have to wonder if some idiot judge will throw in the towel and let the scum go because he didn’t have a speedy trial. The way this thing is going there is no reason to believe that he will ever be ready for trial because he is certainly smart enough to know what would happen to him if convicted.
By the way, Oswaldo made it to Williamsburg from El Salvador, had a job, was able to buy alcohol, had transportation, had a place to live, and was able to use citizens provided public services. A reasonable person just might conclude that he had some smarts and skills.
I’ll bet serious money that before this hit the news, that judge couldn’t have told you what the official language of Liberia is. (Note – they have an official language.) And why isn’t his (claimed) lack of understanding his problem and not ours?
…And I was always told that a lack of understanding of the law does not absolve you of the crime nor the consequences of that crime.
So the slippery slope is now language as an inability to comprehend, although even Helen Keller (deaf and blind) had earned a college degree. And apparently alcohol use qualifys a defendant for an evaluation to stand trial.
I also like that being drunk is now an actionable handicap. “No, officer. I did not commit DUI. I was drunk, and clearly did not understand the gravity of my actions. I insist that you let me go, in light of this.” If NGRI is allowed to extend to substance use/abuse, it’s all over.
I get that an interpreter must be provided, but this is yet another proof that English needs to be declared the official language of the United States and learning it enough to be functional in society MUST be a requirement of citizenship.
This multiculturalism is destroying America and – under the specious logic in this case – I could make up a language, pretend not to understand English, and get away with a horrible crime.
But no – immigration is not a problem, is it? Amenesty for child molesters, right, liberals?
In a less “enlightened” time, fathers would clandestinely use unspeakable violence to ensure child molesters never repeated their crimes against any other children.
Sometimes I miss that era.
A lot of people here seem to want to string up the judge for making her ruling. But how many times do we hear from the right wingers “We want judges who follow the law, not make their own”?
Argue if you want about whether an interpreter should have been required in this case (my thought is probably not) or whether enough of an effort was made to obtain one (seems like there was), or whether the bail was appropriate ($10,000?) but it appears to me as if the judge’s hands were tied by state, federal and constitutional law on this decision. There is such a thing as a right to a speedy trial, and three years by any measure is a violation of that. Maybe you all should defend the vigorous protection of our sixth amendment rights as strenuously as you do our second amendment rights.
To any of you that think the judge took some perverse glee in letting this guy out, get real. It is clear that she agonized over this decision, but ultimately decided she had to follow the law.
And before anyone points it out, yes the Defendant did waive the right to speedy trial (i.e., within 180 days) to give his defense team time to study some more evidence, but no reasonable interpretation of that waiver could include having that extended to three years.
Its easy to get riled up about this one because of the heinousness of the crime and the absurdity of some of the facts, but that is why we have laws: to remove passion and bias from these decisions
Hopefully this sorry case will spur some sort of reform so that it never happens again.
How is this an immigration issue? Correct me if I am wrong, but is there any indication that this man was here illegally? You don’t really have an issue with legal immigration do you?
I dont know this as fact, but heard he waived his right to a speedy trial…..
chap,
“You don’t really have an issue with legal immigration do you?”
Geez, we need to start typing slower for you.
No, you need to either learn to read or follow an argument. Pick one.
Englishqueen’s little comment was an attempt to tie this case into the larger debate about illegal immigration reform. Since the man accused here was (by all accounts I have seen) a legal immigrant, I don’t see how that debate is relevant to the one at hand. Now maybe Englishqueen has some issue with legal immigration in this country, but if so say that.
legal immigrants that commit crimes chap, are an immigration issue.
The reason our judicial system exists is to enforce the laws developed by a civilized society to set limits on behavior and to punish those who break the laws. The object is to prevent a “blood feud” causing the injured party to seeking revenge for the behavior of the criminal. With the break down in our legal system to the point the inmates are running the asylum it leaves many of us no chance in seeking or obtaining justice to punish criminals and prevent criminal activity. This leaves only one course of action for serious criminals is for those wronged to take the law into their own hands, because the judicial system in this country can not be trusted to handle this sacred duty. I am just a little outraged and glad I do not live in a liberal state.
It’s nothing new out of the People’s Democratic Republic of Montgomery County. That County has been a total mess for the past few years…banning Santa Claus, day care centers for illegal aliens looking for work, etc.