United States of America Ex Rel. Rogelio Nieves Negron v. The State of New York

IRVING R. KAUFMAN, Circuit Judge:

We affirmed in open court the granting of Negron’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus by Judge Bartels. Because the issue decided by us will have important precedential value, we now set forth the reasons for our holding that the lack of adequate translation for Negron of those portions of his 1967 Suffolk County murder trial which were conducted in English rendered the trial constitutionally infirm.

Negron, a native of Areeibo, Puerto Rico, first emigrated to this country sometime between 1963 and 1965, at which time he worked for several months as a potato…