Non-English speakers can be jurors, New Mexico court says

Fox News ^ | August 13, 2013 | AP

[NotYourAverageDhimmi]

The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning the state's trial courts that citizens who don't speak English have the right to serve on juries.

The court issued the admonition in a ruling that upholds an Albuquerque man's convictions for murder and other crimes in the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend and a subsequent armed robbery and stabbing.

Michael Samora's appeal argued that his convictions should be reversed because the Bernalillo County court excused a Spanish-speaking prospective juror who had trouble understanding English.

The Supreme Court says it agrees with that argument but also says Samora's defense needed to object during the trial but didn't.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that the state's Constitution "shall never be restricted, abridged or impaired on account of … (the) inability to speak, read or write the English or Spanish languages."

The ruling issued Monday tells judges and lawyers that they must use reasonable efforts to protect the rights of non-English speaking citizens to serve on juries.

[relictele]

Hey it worked out for OJ and his jury.

[P-Marlowe]

It's a freaking RIGHT to serve on a jury? How about the right of the accused to have a jury of HIS PEERS??!!

What if the defendant doesn't speak English?

[logitech]

You’re traveling through another dimension — a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That’s a signpost up ahead: your next stop: the Twilight Zone!

[Alter Kaker]

It's a freaking RIGHT to serve on a jury? How about the right of the accused to have a jury of HIS PEERS??!!

Spanish is a legal, official language in New Mexico and 46% of the population is Hispanic. Odds are pretty good that a Spanish language juror would be a peer.

[KrisKrinkle]

There's a right to serve on a jury?

If a peremptory challenge prevents me from serving on a jury on which I want to serve, can I sue due to the violation of my right?

[NonValueAdded]

so the right of a Spanish-speaker to sit on a jury trumps the right of the defendant to have a jury of his “peers” who can actually follow the proceedings and make a sound judgment on the sum total of the facts???

[Alter Kaker]

No they do not. If I am a defendant I have the right to a jury of my peers. My peers speak and understand ENGLISH.

Then stay out of New Mexico. Spanish is and has been an official language of that state since New Mexico was admitted as a state in 1912.

[CaspersGh0sts]

English should have been declared the official language of the nation ages ago. Now we’re stuck with this garbage.

[Oldexpat]

It is bad enough as a juror to sit in a trial with translation going on, but to then have the english portion translated for fellow jurors is too much. Then when you deliberate you again violate the privacy of the jury room with a translator.
This is the dumbest ruling that could be imagined.

[VeniVidiVici]

Spanish is a legal, official language in New Mexico and 46% of the population is Hispanic.

Really? How so? And how different than other states?

[Vendome]

Well that makes sense.

If the trial is held and everyone speaks Urdu then I can pass judgement based solely on my overwhelming hunger for a 9 piece chicken nugget meal from McDonalds...

[leapfrog0202]

Then stay out of New Mexico. Spanish is and has been an official language of that state since New Mexico was admitted as a state in 1912.
___________________________
Not according to the Albuquerque Journal just recently:

http://www.abqjournal.com/208492/news/spanish-not-enshrined-as-official-nm-language.html

[Pecos]

What a pesky, racist person you must be to actually expect the jury to understand the language the trial may (or may not) be conducted in. /sarc/

Seriously, this sounds like ample grounds for appeal from any conviction.

[Travis McGee]

Thanks. BTW, Alas, Brave New Babylon should be in its finished form in a week or two.

[ex91B10]

We're past it.

[CodeToad]

“Alas, Brave New Babylon “

That’ll send a few chills down the reader’s backs.

[Travis McGee]

I don’t know how it will be received, but I wanted to put a few ideas on the record under one title.

[Travis McGee]

My new 11,000-word short story "Alas, Brave New Babylon" should be out in a week or two.

Here's a notional "cover" I just built on Paint from an internet image on keywords "collapsed radio tower."

[CodeToad]

I like it. It gives that feeling of wanting to reach out but the system is broken.

[Mashood]

I din no.