Sidebar: interpreter quality and accommodations

📄 Sidebar: interpreter quality and accommodations — Monday, February 27, 1995

Address:

C:\DEPT103\CRIMINAL\1995\FEB\27\SIDEBAR-INTERPRETER-QUALITY-AN.DOC

TRIAL

▲ Day 26 of 167

◀ Witness preparation Direct examination of Rosa Lopez (part 2) ▶

Date: Monday, February 27, 1995 • Utterances: 25

Defense counsel Cochran raised concerns at sidebar about the quality of the Spanish interpreter for witness Rosa Lopez, relaying complaints from Skip Taft's office and Spanish-speaking observers on the 12th floor. Judge Ito (himself chair of the Judicial Council Advisory Committee on Court Interpreters) and prosecutor Clark both defended the current interpreter as an improvement over the previous day's. The sidebar then shifted to a minor dispute about arrangements for Lopez's overnight accommodations, with Darden pressing to know what had been arranged, before the matter went off the record.

# 1 (THE FOLLOWING PROCEEDINGS WERE HELD AT THE BENCH:)

# 2 THE COURT:

WE'RE OVER HERE AT SIDEBAR. MR. COCHRAN, EARLIER BEFORE WE ASKED THE COURT REPORTER TO STEP OVER HERE, BEFORE SHE DROPPED HER MACHINE, YOU WERE GOING TO TELL US THAT YOU -- APPARENTLY YOU RECEIVED A PHONE CALL REGARDING THE QUALITY OF THE TRANSLATION?

# 3 MR. COCHRAN:

I GOT A FAX INDICATING FROM -- THIS IS FROM SKIP TAFT'S OFFICE -- THAT THE INTERPRETER WAS TERRIBLE AND SHE WAS INTERPRETING EVERYTHING INSTEAD OF TRANSLATING. "WE THINK IT MIGHT BE HARMFUL TO ROSA'S TESTIMONY. PLEASE TELL J.C." I HADN'T NOTICED, BUT THE ANSWERS SEEM TO BE ABOUT WHAT WE HAD EXPECTED. I ALSO HEARD FROM MR. BLASIER DURING THE BREAK, SOME PEOPLE WHO SPEAK SPANISH ON THE 12TH FLOOR HAD SAID WE'RE STILL HAVING A PROBLEM WITH -- EVEN THOUGH IT'S A DIFFERENT INTERPRETER, I THOUGHT I SHOULD BRING IT TO THE COURT'S ATTENTION. I WOULDN'T ASK THE COURT TO DO ANYTHING AT THIS POINT, BUT THE COURT SPEAKS APPARENTLY SOME SPANISH, AND WE CAN MONITOR THIS. APPARENTLY IT HAS TO DO WITH SALVADOREAN DIALECT OR SOMETHING. I DON'T KNOW.

I JUST WANTED TO ALERT EVERYBODY OF THE PROBLEM.

KEY QUOTE

# 4 THE COURT:

IF YOU RECALL, WE GOT THIS INTERPRETER SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE SHE WAS BORN IN EL SALVADOR AND IS FAMILIAR WITH THE DIALECT, AND SHE IS THE BEST SALVADOREAN-BORN COURT INTERPRETER WE HAVE AVAILABLE. AND IF YOU'RE -- NOT THAT THIS REALLY MEANS ANYTHING, BUT, YOU KNOW, KNOWING A LITTLE SPANISH IN THIS SITUATION IS DANGEROUS. BUT AS THE CHAIR OF THE JUDICIAL COUNCIL ADVISORY COMMITTEE OF COURT INTERPRETERS, I'M VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE PROBLEMS. AND THE PROBLEM THAT WE'RE DEALING WITH, MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THERE ARE 60 MAJOR DIALECTS OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. SO ONLY PERSONS WHO SPEAK OTHER DIALECTS LISTENING TO THIS MAY HAVE AN IDEA WHAT THE PROBLEM IS. I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM. BUT IT'S A GOOD THING WE HAVE A VIDEO AND AUDIO RECORD OF THIS. SO IF THERE'S ANY DISPUTE, WE CAN RESOLVE IT AT THE APPROPRIATE TIME IF NECESSARY. SO FAR, I HAVEN'T HEARD ANYTHING THAT SOUNDED OUT OF ORDER. WE'LL PUT THAT ON THE RECORD.

# 5 MS. CLARK:

LET ME INDICATE ALSO, YOUR HONOR, I HAVE SOMEONE PRESENT IN THE COURTROOM FLUENT IN SPANISH WHO HAS BEEN LISTENING FOR ACCURACY AND HAS INDICATED THAT THIS IS A LOT BETTER THAN THE INTERPRETER WE WERE USING YESTERDAY. THIS ONE IS REALLY TRANSLATING AND NOT INTERPRETING AS WAS OCCURRING YESTERDAY. ESSENTIALLY, I ALSO SPEAK SPANISH, AND IT APPEARS TO ME THAT IT IS MUCH MORE ACCURATE AND LITERAL IN THE TRANSLATION THAN IT WAS PREVIOUSLY. AND THIRDLY, UNLIKE YESTERDAY, WE HAVEN'T RECEIVED ANY COMPLAINTS AS FAR AS ACCURACY.

# 6 MR. DARDEN:

BEFORE WE GO BACK, IF I CAN INQUIRE, HAS THE COURT BEGUN THINKING WHAT WE WILL DO WITH MISS LOPEZ OVERNIGHT?

# 7 THE COURT:

YES. I'VE CONTEMPLATED THAT, BUT WE'LL GET TO THAT AT 4:30.

# 8 MR. COCHRAN:

SINCE YOU ACCUSE US OF DOING EVERYTHING, REMEMBER, THE JUDGE SAID HE WAS GOING TO PUT HER UP AND WE SAID WE WOULD TRY TO DO THAT. REMEMBER, THE COURT SAID HE WOULD PROVIDE -- THEY CALLED IN ABOUT THAT.

# 9 MS. CLARK:

ABOUT --

# 10 MR. COCHRAN:

THE JUDGE SAID THE COURT WOULD PROVIDE ACCOMMODATIONS. WHEN I WALKED UP, I ASKED THE COURT -- I KNOW YOU WEREN'T HERE, BUT I SAID, WELL, JUDGE WE'LL TRY TO MAKE SURE SHE GETS SOME ACCOMMODATIONS AND NOBODY SHOULD TALK ABOUT THAT. REMEMBER THAT, JUDGE?

# 11 MS. CLARK:

I WASN'T HERE.

# 12 THE COURT:

OKAY.

# 13 MR. COCHRAN:

IS THAT RIGHT, JUDGE?

# 14 MR. DARDEN:

I DIDN'T AGREE TO THAT.

# 15 THE COURT:

MR. COCHRAN VOLUNTEERED TO TAKE CARE OF THOSE ARRANGEMENTS.

# 16 MR. COCHRAN:

I UNDERSTAND.

# 17 MR. DARDEN:

WHAT WERE THE ACCOMMODATIONS?

# 18 THE COURT:

AT A NICE HOTEL.

# 19 MR. COCHRAN:

WE AGREED I WOULD DO IT. THE COURT AGREED TO DO IT SO NOBODY WOULD MAKE A BIG THING OF IT.

# 20 MR. DARDEN:

I HEARD YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT IT. WHAT WERE THE ACCOMMODATIONS? I STILL THINK I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW.

KEY QUOTE

# 21 THE COURT:

YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW, AND UNFORTUNATELY -- OFF THE RECORD.

# 22 (A CONFERENCE WAS HELD AT THE BENCH, NOT REPORTED.)

# 23 THE COURT:

ALL RIGHT. LET'S GO.

# 24 MR. COCHRAN:

WE'RE READY TO GO.

# 25 THE COURT:

LET'S GO.

Temperature

procedural

Key Quotes (4)

Johnnie Cochran

I GOT A FAX INDICATING FROM -- THIS IS FROM SKIP TAFT'S OFFICE -- THAT THE INTERPRETER WAS TERRIBLE AND SHE WAS INTERPRETING EVERYTHING INSTEAD OF TRANSLATING. 'WE THINK IT MIGHT BE HARMFUL TO ROSA'S TESTIMONY. PLEASE TELL J.C.'

Reveals defense team's concern that paraphrastic interpretation rather than literal translation was distorting Lopez's testimony to the jury's detriment.

Lance A. Ito

MOST PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THERE ARE 60 MAJOR DIALECTS OF THE SPANISH LANGUAGE. SO ONLY PERSONS WHO SPEAK OTHER DIALECTS LISTENING TO THIS MAY HAVE AN IDEA WHAT THE PROBLEM IS.

Ito draws on his expertise as head of the interpreter advisory committee to contextualize the complaints and defend the court's interpreter selection.

Marcia Clark

I HAVE SOMEONE PRESENT IN THE COURTROOM FLUENT IN SPANISH WHO HAS BEEN LISTENING FOR ACCURACY AND HAS INDICATED THAT THIS IS A LOT BETTER THAN THE INTERPRETER WE WERE USING YESTERDAY.

Shows the prosecution was independently monitoring interpreter accuracy — and that both sides had observers in the room tracking the translation quality.

Christopher Darden

I HEARD YOU GUYS TALKING ABOUT IT. WHAT WERE THE ACCOMMODATIONS? I STILL THINK I HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW.

Darden's pointed exclusion from the prior arrangement suggests unease about the defense's close management of the Lopez witness situation.

Notable Exchanges (2)

Johnnie Cochran•Christopher Darden•Lance A. Ito

Darden presses to learn what overnight accommodations were arranged for Rosa Lopez, having been excluded from the earlier discussion. Ito acknowledges Darden's right to know but then takes the matter off the record entirely.

tense

Lance A. Ito•Marcia Clark

Both judge and prosecutor push back on Cochran's interpreter complaint — Ito noting the interpreter was specifically selected for her Salvadoran background, Clark noting her own monitor found the translation accurate.

strategic

Light Moments (2)

Lance A. Ito

Ito self-deprecatingly warns that 'knowing a little Spanish in this situation is dangerous' before disclosing he chairs the statewide court interpreter advisory committee — undercutting any outside criticism with quiet authority.

Lance A. Ito

When asked what the accommodations for Lopez were, Ito simply answers: 'AT A NICE HOTEL.' — a deadpan non-answer that closes the loop without satisfying Darden.

Objections

None recorded

Proceeding 4988 • 25 utterances

Criminal Trial

Department 103