Sex case dropped because they couldn't get a translator?

[draggar]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/07/22/cha....ap/index.html

Um, he was helping out college students and spoke English before!! WTF??

[i4wolves]

It sometimes feels like we are too loose with sexual predators and too hard on people who are not sexual predators (example the two boys that are being tried on the charges of slapping the girls butts, and they could be sentenced to 10 years and be a sexual predator for the rest of their lives.) I do not understand how are legal system can be so stupid. If he clearly understood the charges before and spoke English before the trail wouldn't that mean he could speak English now. Did he suddenly get a brain injury that made him forget the language he was speaking prior to getting arrested. What is this world coming to?

[Crazeyal]

They were discussing this on CNN the other day. The court screwed up. They had 3 years to prepare for the case. The defendant spoke English as a second language. He had a right to request a translator. They dropped the ball and didn't get one. The rapist SHOULD be behind bars. The system DID NOT FAIL. The people running it did.

I don't applaud the judge in her decision. But she did the right thing. She followed her conscience and her understanding of the law, not what she WANTED. That is a textbook example of how hard it can be to be a Judge.