State v. Marquez

On September 20, 2007, the police arrested defendant German Marquez for drunk driving. Defendant spoke no English, and the police had no reason to believe that he did. Yet in a good faith, but surreal, effort to inform defendant of the consequences of refusing to submit to a breath test, a police officer read aloud a detailed, eleven-paragraph, standard statement—all in English. When defendant confirmed in Spanish that he did not understand, *490the bizarre encounter continued as the officer read yet another two paragraphs in English to defendant.

The police later candidly acknowledged that…