1.12 Jury to Be Guided by English Translation/Interpretation

           [A language] [Languages] other than English will be used for some evidence during this trial.  [When a witness testifies in another language, the witness will do so through an official court interpreter.]  [When recorded evidence is presented in another language, there will be an official court translation of the recording.] 

            The evidence you are to consider and on which you must base your decision is only the English-language [interpretation] [translation] provided through the official court [interpreters] [translators].  Although some of you may know the non-English language used, you must disregard any meaning of the non-English words that differs from the official [interpretation] [translation].

            [You must not make any assumptions about a witness or a party based solely upon the use of an interpreter to assist that witness or party.]

Comment

            When “a district court is faced with a jury that includes one or more bilingual jurors and the taped conversations are in a language other than English, restrictions on the jurors who are conversant with the foreign tongue is not only appropriate, it may in fact be essential.  Where the translation of a portion of the tape is disputed, both sides have an interest in what information is given to the jury.  The rules of evidence and the expert testimony would prove of little use if a self-styled expert in the deliberations were free to give his or her opinion on this crucial issue, unknown to the parties.”  United States v. Fuentes-Montijo, 68 F.3d 352, 355 (9th Cir. 1995).  See also United States v. Franco, 136 F.3d 622, 626 (9th Cir. 1998).  As to the qualification and designation of interpreters in federal courts, see 28 U.S.C. § 1827. 

            See Instructions 2.7 (Transcript of Recording in Foreign Language) and 2.9 (Foreign Language Testimony) concerning foreign language transcripts and testimony to be given during trial, and Instruction 6.17 (Foreign Language Testimony) to be given at the end of the case. 

Revised Mar. 2018