Posted on 07/24/2007 5:18:42 AM PDT by GFritsch
I asked the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for the indictment of Mahamu D. Kanneh, the accused immigrant child molester let off because of a lack of a translator. There were nine counts against him involving not one, but two girls–both relatives of Kanneh. I’ve blocked out their names. Here’s the six-page indictment:
(Unfortunately, only pages 5 and 6 could be copied.)
The prosecutor in the case of a Liberian native charged with repeatedly raping and molesting a 7-year-old girl said Monday that he is filing an appeal of a controversial judge’s ruling that dismissed all charges because an interpreter who spoke the suspect’s rare West African dialect could not be found. Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy called the ruling last Tuesday by Judge Katherine Savage “improper,” adding that his office has “requested that an appeal be taken to reverse the court’s order.”
…Court records, meanwhile, show that an interpreter was “sworn” by a Maryland court on the same day Savage dismissed the case, FOXNews.com has learned. Loretta Knight, a clerk with the court system in Montgomery County, Md., claimed she had been unable to find an interpreter to stay on the case, even after an exhaustive search that included the Liberian Embassy and courts in 47 states. But a look at the court docket for July 17, the day the case was dismissed, shows the entry “Interpreter sworn.” Several items below in the docket, Judge Savage “grants defendant’s oral motion to dismiss case based on a speedy trial violation.”
A review by FOX News of the audio from that hearing shows, however, that an interpreter was present throughout the entire court proceeding, during which time Kanneh’s lawyer, Theresa Chernosky, argued that her client had not been able to get a good job because of unresolved rape charges. Chernosky is heard also telling Savage that her client works at a gas station, and has not signed up for school because of the uncertainty about his future.
The translator can be heard throughout the entire hearing. Savage, however, notes to that the events in the case were “unforeseeable, truly difficult in terms of the interpreter issue.” She then tells the court that “in spite of herculean efforts on the part of the state’s attorney … time has become the enemy.” “What we come back to, then … too much time has passed, is that it’s the defendant who hold speedy trial rights.”
The Washington Post reported, however, that Kanneh had waived his rights to a speedy trial.
Why Savage dismissed the case when records indicate an interpreter had been sworn is just one of several questions raised by an examination of records by FOXNews.com.
Records from a case-worker report dated Oct. 31, 2006, show that the case worker visited Kanneh’s residence to check on him and instead found another sex offender, Sehkou Massaquoi, at the home along with two male children who shared the last name of the defendant.
“This must be overridden and the judge sacked.”
Ditto! I can’t even stand to think about this case. The judge is a monster who needs to be held accountable for her actions.
Did the judge even take any notice of the fact that he graduated from high school and attended community college?
What’s up with this woman? Was she bribed or something?
She has a soft spot in her heart for child rapists.
I guess the “judge” thought we’d all just overlook her brain/heart freeze. Surely there’s a FReep in the works!
It is the responsibility of the court administrator to round up people such as translators. When she had trouble doing that, she had an obligation to report that to the judge before prosecution of the actual criminal case was threatened. So one of my conclusions here is that the court administrator is incompetent.
Nonsense. The perp spoke English and cited a dead language.
The Judge is simply a rapist-enabler who enjoys these
people continuing their rampage, or was paid enuf to look
the other way.
Yes, the perp speaks English. Clearly, unless the Montgomery County schools grant high school degrees to people who don't speak English, he is no doubt fluent. But THE COURT RULED HE HAD TO HAVE A TRANSLATOR. Not my idea, theirs. Unwise, but nevertheless the case. So it was up to the court to find a translator. I think the guy should be charged with perjury for claiming to need a translator. The Montgomery County courts, the judges involved and the public defender were all entirely too casual about this case. And I wonder how many others have fallen by the wayside in Montgomery County for the same reason.
The program is Savage's idea. She's got time for that apparently.
Yes, you would think that if she is so worried about, “countless youngsters in dire need of some consistent, supportive adult figures in their lives,” she might have an equal amount of concern for little girls who have been raped repeatedly by grown men.
Liberia: English 20% (official), some 20 ethnic group languages, of which a few can be written and are used in correspondence. Only 25% of the population are literate.
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