Defense Balks at Court Technology : Lawyer Says Deaf Defendant Needs Sign Interpreter

A deaf Fountain Valley man accused of double murder was offered a new communication system Friday that would allow him to instantly read testimony in court. But his attorney protested that his client’s first language is sign, not English.

The county district attorney’s office had hoped to use the new system in Superior Court in Santa Ana as a way of speeding the upcoming trial of Ronald J. Blaney Jr., who has been deaf since birth.

The system, tried in a few courts in Los Angeles and elsewhere around the country but never in Orange County, would allow Blaney to read an instant transcript of testimony through a computer monitor, rather than using a sign-language interpreter.

But Blaney’s lawyer said that his client thinks in American Sign Language, not English, and that the system would hinder rather than help him.

Defendant’s Consent

Judge Leonard H. McBride said he will not allow the system used in his courtroom without the defendant’s consent.

Blaney, who was 30 at the time of his arrest, is accused of stabbing to death his ex-girlfriend, Priscilla Vinci, and her mother, Josephine, in their Santa Ana home in May, 1987. Priscilla Vinci was active and popular in the deaf community in Orange County.

In court Friday, Orange County prosecutors hauled in several large monitors and connected them to the court reporter’s stenography machine to try out the system, which is similar to that in the courtroom movie “Suspect.” The lawyers’ words appeared on the screen just seconds after they were spoken.

But to the chagrin of prosecutors, the defense team also used a sign-language interpreter to translate the entire court proceeding simultaneously. Blaney rarely looked at the computer monitor, instead relying almost solely on the interpreter.

“That defeats the entire purpose of this,” said Edward R. Munoz, deputy district attorney, referring to the interpreter’s presence.

‘Never Given Chance’

“I expected at least a good-faith effort to make this thing work,” Munoz said. “This is supposed to be a great system, but it was never given a chance here. . . . People are afraid to try new things.”

The prosecutor, hailing “an innovative breakthrough in court reporting,” predicted that the technology, developed by the San Diego firm Xscribe, would significantly reduce the time needed for a trial.

And, he maintained, the system would ensure that the defendant “completely understands” the court proceedings via a word-by-word transcript, rather than a sign-language interpreter who uses concepts and symbols.

But some specialists who study deaf communications dispute the prosecutor’s view, saying that adjustments must be made for the language skills of each deaf person.

Marcella M. Meyer, executive director of the Greater Los Angeles Council on Deafness, said through an interpreter: “There is definitely a use in the courts (for the new system) for those people who have hearing problems, whose first language is English, who are comfortable with English. But there are many (deaf) people who are not comfortable with English, and it should be their choice to use an interpreter.”

That was the contention Friday of Jim Egars, Blaney’s attorney.

Doesn’t Think in English

Egars told the court that Blaney’s “natural tongue, if you will, the language in which he thinks, is not English. . . . Sign language is.” The attorney said the computer system “really is a distraction. It impedes rather than assists the translation.”

The attorney said many English words that are common to a courtroom, such as “waive,” cannot be translated into American Sign Language and are thus unknown to Blaney.

Behind closed doors after the court session, Blaney again tried out the monitor system, with the aid of a court reporter and a sign-language interpreter. But defense attorney Egars said that session “raised as many questions as it resolved.”

Egars would not say whether Blaney would eventually agree to use the computer system. But he did say the court should experiment with new technology at less critical periods in legal proceedings, not when a man is facing murder charges.

The trial is expected to start later this month.