Criminal Defense of Immigrants

(C)  Qualifying the Interpreter in Court.  If the interpreter is not certified, the court must conduct a voir dire examination of the interpreter to establish the interpreter’s qualifications on the record.  Suggested questions are as follows:

1. Do you have a court interpreter certification from any governmental body?

2. Do you belong to any professional interpreter/translator organiza­tion which subscribes to a professional code of ethics? If not, do you know what a code of ethics is?  Please give some examples of important ethical requirements for an interpreter?

                3. What is your formal education and where did you obtain it?

4. What knowledge or training have you had in specific and customary legal terminology in the non-English language?

5. Please explain in simple English the meaning of the following legal terms: (Examples: Nunc pro tunc, arraignment, no contest plea, subpoena, diversion, etc.).

6. Please explain the nature of the proceedings for which we have called you to interpret.

                7. Please explain where you learned your second language.

                Counsel may also wish to consider requesting a preliminary jury charge on the use of an interpreter at trial.[184]

[184] See, e.g., Ninth Circuit Manual of Model Jury Instructions, Instruction 1.12; Uniform Criminal Jury Instruction 1001A (Oregon).