Thread: Md. Judge Dismisses Sex-Abuse Charges

Md. Judge Dismisses Sex-Abuse Charges
Clerk Is Unable To Find Suitable Translator In Time

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 22, 2007; Page C05

A 7-year-old girl said she had been raped and repeatedly molested over the course of a year. Police in Montgomery County, acting on information from a relative, soon arrested a Liberian immigrant living in Gaithersburg. They marshaled witnesses and DNA evidence to prepare for trial.

What was missing -- for much of the nearly three years that followed -- was an interpreter fluent in the suspect's native language. A judge recently dropped the charges, not because she found that Mahamu Kanneh had been wrongly accused but because repeated delays in the case had, in her view, violated his right to a speedy trial.

"This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time," Katherine D. Savage said from the bench Tuesday, noting that she was mindful of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

Loretta E. Knight, the Circuit Court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai, a tribal language spoken in West Africa. They contacted the Liberian Embassy, she said, and courts in all but three states. Linguists estimate that 100,000 people speak Vai, mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In arguing to save the case, Assistant State's Attorney Maura Lynch said that dismissing the indictment "after all the efforts the state has made to accommodate the defendant would be fundamentally unfair."

Prosecutors, who cannot refile the charges against Kanneh, are considering whether to appeal Savage's ruling. Kanneh was granted asylum in the United States, according to State's Attorney John McCarthy. A conviction could have led to deportation proceedings.

His attorney, Theresa Chernosky, declined to comment. Delays were compounded by a dispute about whether Kanneh required an interpreter at all.

In Montgomery and elsewhere, the proliferation of languages resulting from immigration is presenting courts with a novel challenge, legal and linguistics experts say. Rarely, however, does a court have such difficulty finding an interpreter that a criminal case must be dropped.

Court interpreters and linguists say a national database of court interpreters would help quickly locate people fluent in uncommon languages. "The burden of increased requests for rare languages makes it a necessity," said Nataly Kelly, author of a book on interpreting.

Knight said the county spent nearly $1 million on interpreters last year, 10 times the amount it spent in 2000. "It's a constant struggle, and it is extremely expensive," she said.

Kanneh was arrested in August 2004 after witnesses told police that he raped and repeatedly sexually molested the girl, a relative.

In a charging document, Detective Omar Hasan wrote that the girl "attempted to physically stop the behavior from the defendant, but was unsuccessful." Hasan wrote that Kanneh threatened the young girl "with not being able to leave the apartment unless she engaged in sexual behavior with the defendant."

Kanneh spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors. He later waived his right to a speedy trial -- in Maryland, defendants have a right to be tried within 180 days following an indictment -- because the defense wanted time to conduct its own analysis of DNA evidence. That waiver was effective only until the next trial date, Chernosky argued in court.

The trial date was extended repeatedly as the state and the defense argued over whether Kanneh needed an interpreter and whether he understood the legal proceedings. The state noted that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English. The defense insisted that he needed an interpreter to fully understand the proceedings.

The matter was resolved after a court-appointed psychiatrist who evaluated Kanneh recommended that an interpreter be appointed. Judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice.

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. After calling the Liberian Embassy and exhausting other avenues, the clerk's office contacted the administrator of the state's court interpreter program in Annapolis. He located a third Vai interpreter, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

In recent weeks, court officials had found a suitable interpreter who could have assisted in the trial, but it was too late.

Earlier this month, Chernosky filed a motion seeking to have the indictment dismissed, arguing that Kanneh's right to a speedy trial had been violated. "This delay is just too long," she argued in court. "The reasons for the delay are not the defendant's fault."

With help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, The Washington Post identified three Vai interpreters Thursday, including one in Gaithersburg. Lionbridge, a company that offers interpretation services, said it could provide Vai speakers on short notice. Knight said her office had been diligent. "It's these rare languages we're struggling with so much," she said.

In court, Savage attributed no blame for the delay. She called the prosecutor's efforts to help locate an interpreter "Herculean" and said the court system had learned from the case. "Time has become the enemy," the judge said.

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ANOTHER FOREIGNER WHO FIGURES A WAY TO BEAT THE LAW!!!!!!!!!!!

This piece of garbage should be DEPORTED immediately.

Man Once Held on Rape Charges Is Rearrested

By Ernesto Londoño
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; B01



The Liberian immigrant who avoided trial on child rape charges in Montgomery County because of difficulty finding him an interpreter has been arrested again, this time for allegedly failing to appear at a hearing involving a prosecution effort to reinstate the charges.

Mahamu D. Kanneh, 23, of Gaithersburg was taken into custody Monday night in Philadelphia. Sexual assault charges against Kanneh were dismissed last month by a judge who ruled that delays in the case -- caused primarily by the interpreter issue -- had violated his right to a speedy trial.

Kanneh did not attend a court hearing Friday at which prosecutors were seeking to impose conditions on his release while they appeal that ruling.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Darren Popkin said Kanneh tried to escape when Philadelphia police officers arrived at the residence where he was staying. "He fled down the stairs and attempted to get to a back door," Popkin said.

Popkin said Kanneh appeared to have moved to Philadelphia: "He had packed up his belongings."

Kanneh was expected to appear before a judge in Philadelphia yesterday, the first step in extraditing him to Maryland. He could be returned to Montgomery as early as tomorrow.

In a motion filed last week, prosecutors asked a judge to impose the same conditions that were placed on Kanneh while he was awaiting trial: that he be barred from having contact with children, be forced to surrender his passport and other travel documents, be issued an ankle bracelet to track his whereabouts and be barred from leaving the state without permission from the county's pretrial supervision agency.

Kanneh's defense attorney, Theresa Chernosky, objected to the state's request, noting in a court filing that Kanneh had complied with the terms of his pretrial supervision program. "Mr. Kanneh has never been accused of trying to leave the area or trying to run away from this charge," she wrote.

Chernosky said during the hearing Friday that she had been unable to contact Kanneh in recent days and that he had not been notified of the hearing.

Kanneh was arrested in August 2004 after witnesses told police he had raped and repeatedly sexually molested a 7-year-old girl, who was a relative. According to charging documents, he also fondled an 18-month-old girl. Kanneh spent one night in jail before being released on a $10,000 bond.

His trial date was postponed repeatedly, mainly because court officials were unable to find an interpreter fluent in Vai, his native dialect. Delays were compounded by a dispute about whether Kanneh, who attended high school and community college in Montgomery County, required an interpreter at all.

Last month, Chernosky filed a motion seeking to have the indictment dismissed, arguing that her client's constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Katherine Savage granted that motion, dismissing the case July 17.

Staff writer Mariana Minaya contributed to this report.


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