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Spanish interpreters' quality questioned
Changes sought in hiring, oversight to ensure qualified help for defendants
Andrea Weigl, Staff Writer

RALEIGH - An Alamance County interpreter resigned after being accused of posting racist remarks about Mexicans on a white supremacist Web site.
A Davidson County interpreter faces charges of representing himself as a lawyer to swindle Spanish-speaking defendants out of hundreds of dollars.

A Person County interpreter was a convicted sex offender.

These are some of the people upon whom North Carolina has been depending to ensure that Spanish-speaking defendants' rights aren't violated in court.

Although state court officials pay interpreters up to $35 an hour, they have no authority to select or screen them beforehand or discipline them later.

By law, local judges hire and fire interpreters. But with only 41 certified interpreters for 100 counties, judges often hire any Spanish speaker at hand without having any way to gauge their proficiency, ethics or criminal history.

"The majority of interpreters just get a check. There's no quality control done," said Burlington lawyer Ebher Rossi, who complained about the Alamance interpreter.

Greg Stahl, senior deputy director of the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts, wants that to change. He has asked the legislature for an additional $775,000 to pay for interpreters and to revamp how interpreters are hired. In its budget, the state Senate included the money and a provision giving oversight of interpreters to the AOC's director.

Those measures are not in the House version of the budget, however. Stahl hopes to persuade House leaders that they should be included or passed as part of another bill.

Stahl wants interpreters to be appointed, much like lawyers who represent poor criminal defendants. Interpreters would sign a contract with the state, attend orientation and ethics training, and undergo a criminal background check. Judges would hire only interpreters who had done so. Then, Stahl said, AOC officials could respond to complaints.

The state's continuing influx of Spanish-speaking immigrants has created a need for qualified, ethical interpreters.

Between 1990 and 2004, North Carolina's Hispanic population increased 574 percent, from 76,726 to an estimated 517,617. As of 2004, Hispanics accounted for 6.1 percent of North Carolina's 8.5 million residents. That same year, there were 136,466 charges filed against Hispanic defendants.

Starting in 2000, the AOC began certifying interpreters, but only 23 percent of those who took the certification exams passed.

The criteria

To be certified, an interpreter must take a written test, attend a two-day ethics seminar and present four letters of recommendations from court officials before he can sit for an oral exam. While AOC officials have asked judges to approve payments of $35 an hour for certified interpreters and $25 an hour for those uncertified, Stahl said, judges aren't following the request. Paying uncertified interpreters $35 an hour, Stahl said, removes any incentive for them to get certified.

Judges fill the gap by hiring uncertified interpreters and tapping Spanish speakers in the courtroom for help.

"In counties where there are not a lot of bilingual people, there are folks who have very limited Spanish-speaking skills passing for court interpreters," said Ilana Dubester, interim executive director of Hispanic Liaison in Siler City and a state-certified interpreter. "There is a saying among interpreters, 'Just because you have two hands doesn't mean you know how to play the piano.' There are people's lives at stake here. This is a very important and very specific type of interpreting."

Problems cropped up

As the need for interpreters increased, problems with interpreters started to occur.

In March, Rossi, the Burlington lawyer, sent letters to N.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Sarah Parker and Alamance County Chief District Court Judge James K. Roberson complaining about interpreter Victor Jeffreys.

Rossi had found postings by a Victor Jeffreys identifying himself as a court interpreter and mentioning Alamance County on the Web site of American Renaissance, a white supremacist magazine. One of those postings stated that Mexicans encouraged having sex with young teenage girls. Rossi also included affidavits from two Spanish-speaking people.

One, Gonzala Cisneros, wrote this in her affidavit, misspelling Jeffreys' name: "Mr. Jeffries does not have good manners to treat people. If you ask him to translate for you, he does not do it. When Mr. Jeffries translates, he does it with a bad attitude."

In February 2005, Cisneros attended her husband's court hearing and struggled to tell the judge that she would post bail because Jeffreys would not tell him.

"The taxpayers were paying this gentleman to sit in court, frequently doing nothing and treating people in a rude fashion. I don't think the taxpayers' dollars are being well spent," Rossi said.

AOC officials, Rossi said, told him that they would speak to the local judge responsible for appointing Jeffreys. Rossi said he believes that was a "pathetic" response.

But Stahl defended the agency: "We don't pick the interpreters. We don't have the authority. Because of that, we do not respond to complaints."

"The AOC needs to have the power to do that," Dubester said.

Jeffreys, who resigned last month, said, "Mr. Rossi's allegations are false." He said anyone could have used his name to post that statement and others in December and January. He declined to answer further questions.

Roberson, the Alamance judge who oversaw Jeffreys, expressed frustration about his inability to gauge the abilities of prospective interpreters. "Almost all the folks I meet are nice, and they certainly know more Spanish than me," Roberson said. "But I'm oblivious to the accuracy."

Jeffreys isn't the only interpreter to have come under scrutiny.

Sting nets lawbreaker

In Davidson County, interpreter Luis Encarnacion Jr., 57, of Lexington, was charged last year with unauthorized practice of law and obtaining property by false pretenses.

The State Bureau of Investigation began investigating Encarnacion after a Spanish-speaking defendant told a judge that Encarnacion was representing him, officials have said. In a sting operation, a Spanish-speaking undercover officer solicited Encarnacion's representation for a fake criminal charge. Encarnacion agreed and eventually collected a $345 fee from the officer, officials said.

It is illegal for interpreters to offer legal services. District Attorney Garry Frank said the prosecution is pending with the possibility of additional charges.

Encarnacion had previously been convicted of the unauthorized practice of law in 2000, also in Davidson County.

A criminal background

And last year in Person County, Chris Lawrence Childers was paid $750 as an interpreter. Nine years earlier, Childers, 31, of Roxboro, had been convicted of indecent liberties with a minor in the same county.

Person County Chief District Court Judge Mark Galloway said he knows Childers through the man's father, who worked as a missionary in Latin America. Both father and son are fluent in Spanish, Galloway said.

Childers got appointed to interpret one day because he was in court anyway, Galloway said.

"I did not know he was a felon," Galloway said. "I knew he had been involved in lots of scrapes."

In rural counties such as Person, there is a great need for interpreters but few to be found, Galloway said.

When a Spanish-speaking defendant is willing to plead guilty to a traffic charge and is not in danger of losing his license, Galloway said, he will use his pidgin Spanish or help from a bilingual person in the courtroom to dispose of the case. If the defendant wants a lawyer or a trial, Galloway said, he will postpone the case until an interpreter is available.

"We're not doing what the Constitution said really needs to be done," Galloway said. "But I will sleep tonight knowing that these folks get substantial justice."