State of Iowa v. Carlos Ariel Gomez Garcia

WATERMAN, Justice.

In this appeal, we must decide whether the defendant is entitled to an automatic new trial after the district court, over his objection, required a standby interpreter for his jury trial. The defendant had requested an interpreter for his initial bond hearing, and one was provided for all pretrial hearings. On.the. morning of the scheduled jury trial, however, the defendant sought to waive the interpreter, arguing that he did not need one and would be distracted by the translation and that jurors would be prejudiced. The district court nevertheless ordered.a standby…