Fidel Gutierrez-Garcia v. United States
The Court Interpreter's Act, as well as the Fifth and Sixth Amendments, require a district court to appoint a qualified inter-preter for a defendant, (a) who comprehends best in a language other than English, and (b) is "inhibited" in his "comprehension of the proceedings or communication with counsel or the presiding officer," (c) "to such an extent as to have made the hearing funda-mentally unfair." United States v. Hasan, 526 F.3d 653, 666 (10th Cir. 2008) (Gorsuch, J.) (quoting 28 U.S.C. § 1827(d)(1)(A)). Gutierrez, and three others, were arrested near backpacks con-taining more than 100 kilograms of marijuana. His primary lan-guage was Tepehuan, spoken by people indigenous to northern Mexico. The district court provided a English-Spanish interpreter. Gutierrez could not comprehend the proceedings: (a) at the end of a hearing on his ability to understand Spanish, featuring six wit-nesses, he could not say what the purpose of the hearing was, (b) at sentencing he consistently interrupted that he could not under-stand and did not feel capable of speaking to the court in Spanish. Did the proceedings against Gutierrez proceed in a language other than his primary language and inhibit his comprehen-sion such that they were fundamentally unfair?
Did the proceedings against Gutierrez proceed in a language other than his primary language and inhibit his comprehension such that they were fundamentally unfair?