United States v. Adalberto Murguia-Rodriguez

I agree with the majority that interpreters play an important role in our criminal justice system. But the majority’s opinion does not safeguard defendants, it punishes inarticulate district courts and rewards “gotcha” tactics. Murguia-Rodriguez was convicted of drug trafficking after a jury rejected his story that he “did not know” anything about the 130 pounds of marijuana in his truck as he was crossing the United States-Mexico border. After his full trial on the merits with an interpreter, Murguia-Rodriguez, a bilingual defendant, requested to proceed in English at his sentencing hearing.…