Immigrant child molester gets off because of lack of translator

[Jolie Rouge]

Interpreter Trouble Ends Sex-Abuse Case
Sunday, July 22, 2007

Charges against a man accused of raping and repeatedly molesting a 7-year-old girl have been dropped because the court took too long to find an interpreter fluent in his native West African language.

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Katherine D. Savage dismissed the nearly three-year-old case against Mahamu Kanneh last week, saying the delays had violated the Liberian immigrant's right to a speedy trial. "This is one of the most difficult decisions I've had to make in a long time," Savage said from the bench Tuesday. She said she was mindful of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

Prosecutors are considering whether to appeal the dismissal. They cannot refile the charges.

Police arrested Kanneh, of Gaithersburg, in August 2004 after witnesses told police he assaulted the girl multiple times. He spent one night in jail and was released on a $10,000 bond with the restriction that he have no contact with minors.

Prosecutors at first maintained Kanneh could understand the proceedings without translation into his native Vai, a tribal language that linguists estimate is spoken by about 100,000 people mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone. Prosecutors pointed out that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English.

A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed and judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice. But officials could not find a competent interpreter of Vai who would stay.

The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. A third Vai interpreter was located, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

In recent weeks court officials had found a suitable interpreter, but Savage ruled that too much time had already passed.

Prosecutor Maura Lynch had argued that dismissing the indictment "after all the efforts the state has made to accommodate the defendant would be fundamentally unfair."

Kanneh's attorney, Theresa Chernosky, declined to comment.

Loretta E. Knight, the court clerk responsible for finding interpreters, said her office searched exhaustively for a speaker of Vai. She said court officials contacted the Liberian Embassy and courts in all but three states.

The Washington Post reported that it identified three Vai interpreters Thursday with help from the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters, including one in Gaithersburg.

http://www.townhall.com/News/NewsArticle.aspx?ContentGuid=411eb742-cb6d-4aff-8c33-2e3ac728f12a

The evidence sounds strong, as multiple “witnesses told police he assaulted the girl multiple times.”

No matter. The courts couldn’t find an interpreter to translate proceedings into “Vai, a tribal language that linguists estimate is spoken by about 100,000 people mostly in Liberia and Sierra Leone.”

Ironic, since English is the official language of Liberia; he probably didn’t need the interpreter anyway.

[suprtruckr]

i've got a 12 guage translator

[Lasher]

while I'll agree this is sad and he needs to fall on a sharp jagged rock, what the hell were they doing for the past 3 years instead of finding an interpreter?

[PrincessArky]

yet ANOTHER reason everyone in this country should speak English

[freeby4me]

"Prosecutors pointed out that Kanneh attended high school and community college in Montgomery and spoke to detectives in English."

This sick @#*& speaks english and would have understood everything just fine.
A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed this person needs to be fired. Its their fault that this guy is walking free. If they reccommend an interpreter then go find one yourself.

[buttrfli]

i've got a 12 guage translator

Me too... I'll pick you up on the way to his house :mad:

[LuvBigRip]

while I'll agree this is sad and he needs to fall on a sharp jagged rock, what the hell were they doing for the past 3 years instead of finding an interpreter?

A court-appointed psychiatrist recommended that an interpreter be appointed and judges who handled subsequent hearings heeded that advice. But officials could not find a competent interpreter of Vai who would stay.

The first interpreter stormed out of the courtroom in tears because she found the facts of the case disturbing. A second interpreter was rejected for faulty work. A third Vai interpreter was located, but at the last minute, that person had to tend to a family emergency.

In recent weeks court officials had found a suitable interpreter, but Savage ruled that too much time had already passed.


This guy spoke english and an interpreter should not have been required anyway!

[Jolie Rouge]

Give WaPo’s Ernest Londono props for reporting the story. His coverage has sparked national interest in the case. That’s a good thing. You’ll be interested to know that the prosecutor’s voice message box was full by 8:30am Eastern this morning. There are lingering questions here not just about the speedy trial justification for letting Kanneh off, but also about the circumstances of Kanneh’s grant of asylum, and at bottom, the shady claims of his alleged limited English proficiency made by his defense team. Stay tuned.

Md. Judge Dismisses Sex-Abuse Charges
Clerk Is Unable To Find Suitable Translator In Time
By Ernesto Londoño - Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 22, 2007; Page C05

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/21/AR2007072100660.html?hpid=topnews

[Jolie Rouge]

On The Big Story Sunday, Julie Banderas and James Rosen discussed the case of accused child rapist Mahamu Kanneh, released because the court couldn’t find a translator to interpret for him in his obscure language. Never mind that Liberia was founded by Americans and English is the official language of that country. Never mind the man completed high school and college in the US, in English.

A Fox producer reached Mr. Kanneh by phone and surprise! he does in fact speak English.

Video : http://en.sevenload.com/videos/qZElW9B/Big-Story-Accused-rapist-speaks-English

Exit quesion: Do we merely have an incompetent judge in this case, or a broken legal system.

Theresa Chernosky-lawyer who came up with the strategy to allow a child rapist to go free. I bet she would claim she was protecting the civil rights of everyone in America.

Loretta E. Knight-Clerk of the Court responsible for finding the translator. He was arrested 3 years ago. A walking illustration of the efficiency of government.

Katherine D. Savage-judge who dismissed “Savage attributed no blame for the delay. She called the prosecutor’s efforts to help locate an interpreter “Herculean” and said the court system had learned from the case. “Time has become the enemy,” the judge said.” The guy was out on bail, what was the hurry? And what is the enemy? Time or a child rapist walking among us?

How do we get these names in front of the nation?

Several points:

1. This case is in The Peoples Republic of Montgomery County where liberal democrats reign supreme.

2. Related to point #1, I have extensive experience of the psychiatric community in this region, and they are all, yes ALL, whining liberal wienies. And they have a great deal of power.

3. The judicial system here is broken due to the large criminal and immigrant community and the lobby which represents them.

This case is getting a lot of press due to the nature of the case involving the rape of a minor, but I would be willing to bet that similar outcomes are happening on a regular basis in less egrigious circumstances…in civil, traffic and family court.

[suprtruckr]

nevermind

[Jolie Rouge]

Prosecutor Appeals After Judge Drops Rape Charges Against Liberian Over Lack of Interpreter
Monday, July 23, 2007


ROCKVILLE, Md. — The prosecutor in the case of a Liberian native charged with repeatedly raping and molesting a 7-year-old girl said Monday that he is filing an appeal of a controversial judge's ruling that dismissed all charges because an interpreter who spoke the suspect's rare West African dialect could not be found.

Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy called the ruling last Tuesday by Judge Katherine Savage "improper," adding that his office has "requested that an appeal be taken to reverse the court's order."

Savage ruled on July 17 that Mahamu Kanneh, a Liberian who received asylum in the U.S. and attended high school and community college here, was denied a speedy trial after three years awaiting a court-appointed interpreter who could speak the tribal language of Vai. Linguists estimate that only 100,000 people speak Vai.

Savage called her decision one of the most difficult she's had to make in a long time, especially since she was aware of "the gravity of this case and the community's concern about offenses of this type."

Det. Omar Hasan wrote in the charging document that the victim "attempted to physically stop the behavior from the defendant, but was unsuccessful," the Washington Post reported. Kanneh threatened the young girl "with not being able to leave the apartment unless she engaged in sexual behavior with the defendant," Hasan wrote in his report.

McCarthy charged the delays cited in Savage's order to dismiss the "result of the court locating a qualified interpreter," and not the fault of the prosecutor.

"The fact is on four separate occasions this court provided Vai interpreters," McCarthy said, adding that one of the interpreters had agreed to participate in further proceedings. Court records, meanwhile, show that an interpreter was "sworn" by a Maryland court on the same day Savage dismissed the case, FOXNews.com has learned.

Loretta Knight, a clerk with the court system in Montgomery County, Md., claimed she had been unable to find an interpreter to stay on the case, even after an exhaustive search that included the Liberian Embassy and courts in 47 states.

But a look at the court docket for July 17, the day the case was dismissed, shows the entry "Interpreter sworn.” Several items below in the docket, Judge Savage “grants defendant’s oral motion to dismiss case based on a speedy trial violation.”

A review by FOX News of the audio from that hearing shows, however, that an interpreter was present throughout the entire court proceeding, during which time Kanneh's lawyer, Theresa Chernosky, argued that her client had not been able to get a good job because of unresolved rape charges.

Chernosky is heard also telling Savage that her client works at a gas station, and has not signed up for school because of the uncertainty about his future.

The translator can be heard throughout the entire hearing.

Savage, however, notes to that the events in the case were "unforeseeable, truly difficult in terms of the interpreter issue."

She then tells the court that "in spite of herculean efforts on the part of the state's attorney ... time has become the enemy."

"What we come back to, then ... too much time has passed, is that it's the defendant who hold speedy trial rights."

The Washington Post reported, however, that Kanneh had waived his rights to a speedy trial.

Why Savage dismissed the case when records indicate an interpreter had been sworn is just one of several questions raised by an examination of records by FOXNews.com.

Records from a case-worker report dated Oct. 31, 2006, show that the case worker visited Kanneh's residence to check on him and instead found another sex offender, Sehkou Massaquoi, at the home along with two male children who shared the last name of the defendant.

Massaquoi is currently on probation and “was associated with the same victim” as the defendant.

"The defendant was not at home at the time," the case worker's wrote. Later in the day, however, Kanneh spoke to the case worker and told him “he was unaware that those children were in his apartment while he was there. He just comes home from work and goes to his room every night.”

A Nov. 1, 2006, report from the clinical psychologist, Joseph G. Poirier, noted that the defendant came to the U.S. in September 2001.

The report states that Kanneh was born in Monrovia, Liberia, on May 19, 1984, but at a “very young” age moved with his family as refugees to Guyana, where he was introduced to English (Guyana is an English speaking country in South America, a former Dutch colony that later became a British possession before independence in 1966).

“Presently, Mr. Kanneh’s command of English was reasonably good, but he commented that at times he still did not understand English very well and would require continuing explanations until he did understand," Poirier's report also states. "Mr. Kanneh was aware of the allegations involving child sexual abuse, he was aware of the role of significant courtroom players.

"We found Mr. Kanneh to be responsive and able to meaningfully participate in the screening interview," the report continues. "Likewise, we would anticipate that he will be able to adequately assist defense counsel especially if time is taken to explain to him matters or events that he does not readily grasp because of his language/cultural background.”

Kanneh's mother, Florence, was the subject of separate charges last year, FOXNews.com has learned. Hasan arrested Florence Kanneh on two charges of witness intimidation and two child abuse counts on April 5, 2006, according to court records.

Florence Kanneh was given probation before judgment on one of the child abuse charges of which she pleaded guilty on September 14, 2006. She also was ordered to have no contact with either of the witnesses.

The witnesses said, according to the charging documents from interviews taken on February 9, 2006, that "Florence Kanneh wanted them to retract their earlier statements" made to authorities.

In those statements, one of the witnesses said Florence Kanneh had threatened to send him back to Africa as well as threatened to use Voodoo on him if he didn't change his story to police.

According to the charging documents, one of the witnesses told authorities that Florence said, "She was going to use Voodoo on anyone that had lied about either Edward Massaquoi or Mahamu Kanneh."

The other witness said Florence Kanneh put him into an institutional home and said she would only release him if he changed his story. The witness also claimed that he "had been deprived of food" by Kanneh.

The witnesses at one time lived with Florence Kanneh, but no longer live with her.

And in another motion, filed only earlier this month, Mahamu Kanneh's defense lawyer levels an accusation at Hasan, the lead investigator. She wrote that because he is "potentially involved" in a scandal in the Montgomery County police department in which some officers worked as private guards during regular work hours, his credibility has been compromised.

The motion does not specify what Hasan's involvement may be, but she asked that crucial evidence be tossed, including DNA testimony and witness statements. The motion was never ruled on before the Kanneh's case was dismissed.

FOX News, meanwhile, spoke with a man Sunday who claimed to be Kanneh in a five-minute phone conversation conducted in English. He said the allegations against him were false and the dismissal of the charges was "a good thing." Asked if the accusations were true, he responded, "I said what I had to say" and hung up.

The Washington Post wrote in its article that in just one night reporters were independently able to identify three Vai translators available to assist in the case. It noted that the need for interpreters has risen starkly in Montgomery County, Md., with the court system spending $1 million in interpreters in 2006, or 10 times the amount it spent in 2000.

According to witnesses, who originally reported the case to authorities, Kanneh allegedly repeatedly raped and sexually molested the girl, a relative. In a statement made by the girl to police, she said she had been told she'd be forced to stay in the apartment unless she had sex with Kanneh.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,290300,00.html

Click here to read the indictment. http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/kanneh_files.pdf

[Jolie Rouge]

Charging papers for Mahamu D. Kanneh…
victims were 7 and 1 1/2

Yesterday, I posted the indictment of Mahamu D. Kanneh, the accused Liberian immigrant child molester let off because of a lack of a translator. I noted that there were nine counts against him involving not one, but two girls. Both are nieces of Kanneh. As other media outlets have reported, one of those girls was seven years old. What I have not seen noted elsewhere is the age of the other child.

She was one and half years old.

I asked the Montgomery County State’s Attorney’s Office for the charging papers in the case.

Here’s the statement of probable cause:

http://michellemalkin.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2007/07/probcause2.jpg

http://hotair.cachefly.net/mm/full.jpg


i've got a 12 guage translator

Got how many ??

[boopster]

That judge should be charged as an accessory to the crime and since she is/was incapable to see that this scumbag is prosecuted, then she should be charged and upon receiving the guilty verdict, she should then receive the punishment in his place.

As far as the scum bug, I would like to call upon anyone with knowledge of voodoo who can have this guy's genitals shrivel up and fall off along with all of his appendages so that he will never be able to commit a crime such as this upon anyone else.

[suprtruckr]

Got how many ??

one placed in the correct position is all ya need ;)


like between the base of the ballsac and the azzhole

[queenangie]

How horrible that he was allowed to go free for raping 2 children!

Justice:

Locate a stump.
Nail the offending organ to the said stump.
Douse stump with lighter fluid.
Give offender a hack saw.
Light the stump on fire.

Problem solved.

[PrincessArky]

How horrible that he was allowed to go free for raping 2 children!

Justice:

Locate a stump.
Nail the offending organ to the said stump.
Douse stump with lighter fluid.
Give offender a hack saw.
Light the stump on fire.

Problem solved.

now that sounds like alot of fun for us :) while we are at it I would like to do the same with the judge please

[Jolie Rouge]

Man Once Held on Rape Charges Is Rearrested
By Ernesto Londoño -- Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, August 8, 2007; Page B01

The Liberian immigrant who avoided trial on child rape charges in Montgomery County because of difficulty finding him an interpreter has been arrested again, this time for allegedly failing to appear at a hearing involving a prosecution effort to reinstate the charges.

Mahamu D. Kanneh, 23, of Gaithersburg was taken into custody Monday night in Philadelphia. Sexual assault charges against Kanneh were dismissed last month by a judge who ruled that delays in the case -- caused primarily by the interpreter issue -- had violated his right to a speedy trial.

Kanneh did not attend a court hearing Friday at which prosecutors were seeking to impose conditions on his release while they appeal that ruling.

Montgomery County Sheriff's Deputy Chief Darren Popkin said Kanneh tried to escape when Philadelphia police officers arrived at the residence where he was staying. "He fled down the stairs and attempted to get to a back door," Popkin said.

Popkin said Kanneh appeared to have moved to Philadelphia: "He had packed up his belongings."

Kanneh was expected to appear before a judge in Philadelphia yesterday, the first step in extraditing him to Maryland. He could be returned to Montgomery as early as tomorrow.

In a motion filed last week, prosecutors asked a judge to impose the same conditions that were placed on Kanneh while he was awaiting trial: that he be barred from having contact with children, be forced to surrender his passport and other travel documents, be issued an ankle bracelet to track his whereabouts and be barred from leaving the state without permission from the county's pretrial supervision agency.

Kanneh's defense attorney, Theresa Chernosky, objected to the state's request, noting in a court filing that Kanneh had complied with the terms of his pretrial supervision program. "Mr. Kanneh has never been accused of trying to leave the area or trying to run away from this charge," she wrote.

Chernosky said during the hearing Friday that she had been unable to contact Kanneh in recent days and that he had not been notified of the hearing.

Kanneh was arrested in August 2004 after witnesses told police he had raped and repeatedly sexually molested a 7-year-old girl, who was a relative. According to charging documents, he also fondled an 18-month-old girl. Kanneh spent one night in jail before being released on a $10,000 bond.

His trial date was postponed repeatedly, mainly because court officials were unable to find an interpreter fluent in Vai, his native dialect. Delays were compounded by a dispute about whether Kanneh, who attended high school and community college in Montgomery County, required an interpreter at all.

Last month, Chernosky filed a motion seeking to have the indictment dismissed, arguing that her client's constitutional right to a speedy trial had been violated. Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Katherine Savage granted that motion, dismissing the case July 17.

Staff writer Mariana Minaya contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/07/AR2007080701065.html?nav=hcmodule

[renaissanceman]

How horrible that he was allowed to go free for raping 2 children!

Justice:

Locate a stump.
Nail the offending organ to the said stump.
Douse stump with lighter fluid.
Give offender a hack saw.
Light the stump on fire.

Problem solved.

While I agree that this is a GREAT idea, it wont solve all such problems. Many of these PSYCHOS would then just use foreign objects to commit atrocities on children. All convicted pedophiles and Rapists should get 1 (ONE) appeal and then they should be hung from the court house flag pole!

Seeing these scumbags slowly twisting might force some of the OTHER scum who are thinking on rape and molestation to pause and REALLY think about what they are thinking of and THEN decide if they want to proceed.

At the very least it would GUARANTEE that convicted rapists and molesters NEVER harmed anyone again, and MIGHT have the added benefit of reducing future such crimes.

OH< and this judge needs to be removed at the next election to show that the community will NOT sit still while its elected officials allow criminal SCUM to walk free.