Ramirez’s Attorneys Say Non-English Speakers Should Be Considered as Jurors

Attorneys for accused Night Stalker Richard Ramirez contended in court Friday that people who do not speak English should be considered as jurors in Ramirez’s trial on charges of 14 murders and 41 other felonies.

“If they have a court interpreter, I think they they can sit in the courtroom; otherwise you would be, in essence, taking out a substantial portion of the jury pool,” said defense counsel Arturo Hernandez during a hearing on pre-trial motions. “I think they can well sit on a jury.”

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Dion G. Morrow disagreed, saying, “We have never had a juror who can’t speak English or understand the English language.”

Deputy Dist. Atty. P. Philip Halpin, who is prosecuting Ramirez, took no stand on the issue, which was not decided Friday. Outside the courtroom, however, Halpin facetiously said, “It would make things a little tougher than they are now (in this case) and it’s tough enough as it is.”

Later, Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay made clear that the prosecutor’s office would oppose non-English-speaking jurors because state law declares that “a person is competent to act as juror if he or she is . . . possessed of sufficient knowledge of the English language.”

“It would be a fatal defect,” Livesay added, “to select a jury with one or more members who don’t meet the statutory requirements.”

Constitutional Matter

However, the general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, contacted by The Times, said Friday that the state statute is probably unconstitutional.

“An individual who doesn’t speak English who wants to be on a jury is denied the right of citizenship,” Mark Rosenbaum said. “The law would (also) deny a defendant a fair cross-section of the community.”

The argument emerged during a lengthy discussion on a defense motion for a change of venue for Ramirez’s trial due to massive pretrial publicity. Hernandez asked that a hearing on the motion be delayed three months because the defense team is still gathering thousands of articles on Ramirez’s alleged 1985 crime rampage from more than 150 different publications--several of them local papers in Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and Korean.

Idea Strongly Resisted

“Believe me,” Judge Morrow said to Hernandez, “nobody who doesn’t speak English is going to be able to sit on the jury in this case.”

In response, Hernandez noted that more Spanish-speaking people live in Los Angeles County than anywhere else in the world outside of Mexico City.

“What about Spain?” the judge asked.

Morrow eventually agreed to postpone the change of venue hearing until Nov. 3. He also delayed Ramirez’s trial date to Dec. 2 from Sept. 2 to give Hernandez and his partner, Daniel Hernandez, more time to prepare. The Hernandezes are not related.

Additionally, Morrow granted defense requests that the district attorney’s office turn over all lab reports, notes and tape recordings by police in connection with the case.

Ramirez was ordered to stand trial last May after a 29-day preliminary hearing in connection with the string of Night Stalker attacks.