For get about the fact that the ‘immigrant’ from Liberia attended high school and a community college in Maryland, and spoke English to detectives. Instead, because of political correctness the court released this rapist of a 7-year-old because they couldn’t find an interpreter for his native Liberian language. Oh, and let’s not mention the fact that Liberia was founded by freed American slaves, or that the official language of Liberia is…English.
Interpreter Trouble Ends Sex-Abuse Case
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…
Police arrested Kanneh, of Gaithersburg, in August 2004 after witnesses told police he assaulted the girl multiple times. He spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors.
Prosecutors at first maintained Kanneh could understand the proceedings without translation into his native Vai, a tribal language that linguists estimate is spoken by about 100,000 people mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Prosecutors pointed out that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English…The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. A third Vai interpreter was located, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.
In recent weeks court officials had found a suitable interpreter, but Savage ruled that too much time had already passed…Loretta E. Knight, the court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai. She said court officials contacted the Liberian Embassy and courts in all but three states.
The Washington Post reported that it identified three Vai interpreters Thursday with help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters, including one in Gaithersburg.
One more highlight of the depravity of political correctness and the sort of system the left has worked for decades to bring about.
UPDATE:
Good news from the prosecution: they will file an appeal of this decision. Hot Air has video of the announcement.
UPDATE 4:45pm PT:
Congressman Tom Tancredo, a man who has proven is not afraid to stand up for what is right, has a great idea. He has announced that he is calling on the Feds to seek civil right charges against Kanneh.
Tancredo Calls on Feds to Seek Civil Rights Charges against Released Child Rapist
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colorado) today sent a letter to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales asking him to consider charging Mahamu Kanneh with federal civil rights violations…“It is troubling that this state judge has taken the unprecedented step of converting the supposed inability of a suspect to speak English into what is essentially a license to engage in criminal activity,†said Tancredo. “Especially when one considers that the suspect had attended public high school and community college in the U.S., and even had the audacity to conduct several interviews with media in English following the ruling.â€
Congressman Tancredo noted that in the past, when state judicial authorities have demonstrated this kind of gross incompetence or unwillingness to hold individuals accountable for their crimes, the federal government has used civil rights laws as a way to charge, detain, and convict individuals.
The government’s number one function is to protect us from criminals. The people of Montgomery county must work to oust all those incompetent/corrupt government officials responsible for this miscarriage (more like 3rd trimester abortion) of justice.
Why should the court provide an interpreter? If you come here you better learn English to protect yourself. It’s your problem if you are rushed to the emergency room and can’t tell people what is wrong with you. You might die. Its your problem if you are arrested and don’t understand your Miranda rights that were read to you in English. And it’s your problem if you are go to court and don’t understand what is happening to you if you don’t know English.
Learn English or bring your own damn interpreter.
As a prosecutor, I’d point out that speedy trial hovers over every case, and the story doesn’t sufficiently flesh out exactly the posture of the case sufficient to know if the judge’s ruling has any legal merit whatsoever and/or what the standard of review might be on appeal. But the whole language issue here does certainly sound awfully bogus. I remember once watching a colleague about to start jury selection and then, ON THE DAY OF TRIAL, the defense attorney says his client needed an Armenian interpreter (note, this is South Florida, not L.A., where that language is sufficiently common for the court to have one or two on full-time staff). You could see the steam out of the judge’s ears, but he did ultimately grant a continuance.
All wonderful posts. However, my anger at this is so deep the only I can say is, “Rockville MD? Lock your doors!” Appalling. Speechless. What has happened to my country? I will feel better after a glass of red..I hope.
Had the judge wielded a Liberian/Sierra Leone style machete instead of a gavel, the accused would probably have become articulate in english—-perhaps even loquacious.
He went to high school here, took some college classes, held a job and spoke English to the detectives. The prosecutor never stipulated that a translator was even needed. Something very fishy about this.
In the three years this has dragged on, he could have been taught perfect high school English. Oops, he already did that. Heck, he could have earned a law degree. If no one can prosecute this man, can he at least be deported back to Liberia? Double oops, forgot that Bush and Chertoff are at the helm. No deportations for the time being, as we wouldn’t want to disrupt any families. The victims and their families are excluded from consideration, of course.
Yet another reason to immigrate to the US and refuse to learn English. You can have your way with 7 year olds and not be held accountable.
It would be nice to have that judge’s e-mail address. Need I say why?
FWIW, I just thought to look this up, and think it’s worth mentioning, as I have to wonder how much the judge adhered to it:
–The Constitution of the State of Maryland (1867), Declaration of Rights, Article 47 (ratified 1994).
In 2000, Montgomery County State’s Attorney Douglas Gansler now the Maryland Attorney General, led a crusade against a Judge who made an ill advised comment at sentencing in a statutory rape case. He whipped politicians and women’s groups into a frenzy over a comment that had no effect on the trial or sentence, but created considerable difficulty for that Judge.
The judge in this case released a dangerous predator on ridiculous grounds. I’ve not seen our Attorney General marshalling the troops against her. Could she enjoy some political protection not afforded to all Judges in the State?