Rights given in two languages

The Washington Times ^ | 7-20-05 | Brian Witte

[JZelle]

BALTIMORE -- A Mexican man charged with the vicious slayings of his three young relatives was repeatedly asked in English and Spanish whether he understood his rights before giving a statement at police headquarters hours after the bodies were found, a tape recording of the interview played to jurors yesterday indicated. Detective Sgt. Darryl Massey spoke to Policarpio Espinoza Perez with Detective Juan Diaz, who is fluent in Spanish and acted as a translator during the interview, which began at 1:29 a.m. May 28, 2004. The interview was tape recorded about 13 hours after the bodies of 9-year-old Ricardo Quezada Jr., 8-year-old Lucero Quezada and their cousin, 10-year-old Alexis Quezada were found. Their throats were slashed within inches of decapitation at their apartment. Mr. Perez, who is an uncle of the dead children, has been charged with Adan Canela, 18, with killing them. Both Mr. Perez and Mr. Canela went to the police department voluntarily with other family members after police arrived at the crime scene. During the interview, Mr. Perez said he understood English "a little bit," and he can be heard responding to some questions by saying "yeah" and "yes." Speaking slowly and carefully, Detective Massey asked Mr. Perez in English if he understood his Miranda rights, which were presented to him in both languages. "Yeah," he replied. Detective Massey asked Detective Diaz to explain them to him in Spanish, and Mr. Perez replied "si" when asked if he understood them. He also said he didn't have any questions about them. In the interview, parts of which already have been made public, Mr. Perez told Detective Massey that he went to the children's apartment with Mr. Canela on the day of the slayings. But Mr. Perez said he stayed in the car, while Mr. Canela went inside.

[marron]

If you can interrogate him in Spanish, you can read him his rights in Spanish.

I'm not too worried about the Spanish thing. Its that decapitation thing that has me worried. Lock him up. Whatever it takes.

[PAR35]

Of course, if they didn't notify the Mexican embassy before they questioned him, there is a whole 'nother can of worms to deal with.

[Kenton]

If they didn't give it to him in Spanish, his lawyers would argue that he had not been properly notified of his rights at the time of arrest (since not notifying him in a language he understood would not provide him with the required information), and he would have walked on a "Miranda" violation.