DueProcess
Whether Petitioner was deprived of his rights to due process and confrontation under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, where the interpreter was prohibited from translating recordings played to the jury during the State's case against him?
The trial court recognized Mr. Gutierrez only spoke Spanish and appointed an interpreter for him —but the int erpreter was prohibited from translating evidence admitted at trial . At trial, the State presented as part of its case r ecorded interviews as the evidence against Mr. Gutierrez. These recorded interviews were in English. The State placed the recordings in to evidence and the recordings were played to the jury. Pursuant to an administrative order the interpreter did not translate the recordings for Mr. Gutierrez. It has been recognized the use of an interpreter is necessary to effectuate the due process and other rights guaranteed by the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution. This Court has not decided what degree of interpretive assistance is constitutionally required for non -English speaking defendants. The question presented is : Whether Petitioner was de prived of his right s to due process and confrontation under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments, where the interpreter was prohibited from translating recordings played to the jury during the State’s case against him? ii RELATED PR OCEEDINGS The proceeding listed below is directly related to the above captioned case in this Court : Gutierrez v. State , 394 So. 3d 1131 (Fla. 4th DCA 2024) .