Defendants with limited English-language skills have a constitutional right to court interpreters in criminal trials, the Supreme Court of Georgia ruled Monday.The ruling came in a case involving a Mandarin Chinese speaker who was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two counts of cruelty to a child. Annie Ling, who had limited English language skills, did not understand that she had the option to plead guilty instead of going to trial and possibly facing a longer sentence, said the American Civil Liberties Union, one of two groups that filed a friend-of-the-court brief stating that denying a defendant an interpreter violates the U.S. Constitution and civil rights laws.The Georgia Supreme Court also instructed all Georgia state courts to practice “vigilance in protecting the rights of non-English-speakers.”
See: CNN
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I think this issue was already established many years ago. However, since few opportunities for constitutional review are available in the USA, the Constitution continues to be violated on a daily basis. Good luck.
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