San Francisco Superior Court Judge Okays Inmate to Interpret for Defendant

A San Francisco Superior Court judge allowed an incarcerated person to interpret an admonishment to a Spanish-speaking defendant. The next day, July 9, 2025, the defendant did not attend his scheduled preliminary hearing. Was this a case of cause and effect?

According to reporting by The Vanguard, the jail’s use of a fellow inmate in conveying the admonishment reflected a failure to provide appropriate interpreting services. (In a legal context, an admonishment is a minor disciplinary action, a written warning to an individual that may require the recipient to avoid or stop certain behavior.)

Defense Attorney Lawrence Steven Strauss argued that the incident demonstrated a lack of proper translation services. Strauss stated that the individual who interpreted the admonishment may not have been qualified, and pointed to “linguistic or cultural barriers” as possible concerns. 

In particular, Strauss noted that his client is from Nicaragua, “and although he speaks Spanish, his first language is a cultural dialect, indicating potential differences in translation.”

It is unclear from The Vanguard article whether Strauss meant that his client’s first language is not Spanish, but rather a language indigenous to Nicaragua, or that his client required a Nicaraguan-specific variant of Spanish.

Strauss requested that the preliminary hearing be rescheduled so his client could be present.

Deputy District Attorney Dennis Guzman, however, argued that the hearing should proceed because the defendant had been notified of his court date and “made the conscious decision not to appear.” 

Judge Simon J. Frankel agreed that there was “clear and convincing evidence” of the defendant’s refusal to appear, and ultimately decided that the hearing should proceed.

In response to Strauss’ arguments about interpreting concerns, Frankel said that “cultural differences” in language were not relevant to the admonishment — and that it was reasonable for jail staff to ask another inmate to translate. The defendant’s next court date is scheduled for July 23, 2025.

Online, language professionals expressed incredulity. Interpreter Robin Ragan posted on LinkedIn, “No interpreter? No problem! Just grab another inmate to do the job. I am shocked this happened at all, much less in a big city in California where there are plenty of highly skilled interpreters.”

“San Francisco has a vast amount of State certified legal interpreters to do the job,” agreed Spanish interpreter Alcira Saguero.