Unless you are in the legal department, you study International Law or you are a fan of American police TV series, the Miranda Rights mean nothing to you. However, if you have ever watched any chapter of Law & Order or CSI Miami and you have seen the scene in which the bad guy is being arrested, you have probably noticed that the detective or police officer always informs the detainee about his right to remain silent and to consult a lawyer. Those are the Miranda Rights.
In previous posts we have already discussed the importance it has for accused people facing a trial who do not speak the country’s language to be able to understand what they are accused of, their rights, their punishment and what is going on in the courtroom. This issue has reached the press once again as a bad Miranda translation led to overturn the conviction of an Oregon man accused of trafficking marijuana and weapons.
According to the news, the man had his Miranda rights improperly translated into Spanish. According to court documents, the detective doing the translation was a native Spanish speaker but, as it has been mentioned before, being fluent in a language does not mean that you are a good translator.
As the detective was reciting the Miranda rights to the Oregon man, he flubbed the part of the warning that states the suspect is entitled to a court-appointed lawyer. He used the Spanish version of the word “free” that means “freedom of action” (“libre”) instead of “at no cost” (“gratis”).
The Court stated that, even though the accused man was read both the English and the Spanish versions of the Miranda rights, he was not informed which one prevailed. In addition, they mentioned that the mistake meant that it was not clear whether the Government would provide him with a lawyer if he wanted to consult with one and he had no money to do so.
