Pauline Walstein was surprised to read media accounts of a 23-year-old Montgomery County man who had child sex abuse charges against him dismissed because of difficulty locating an interpreter.
The newspaper accounts said Mahamu Kanneh, a Liberian immigrant, spoke Vai, a rare West African language. It was also reported that he’d graduated from Rockville’s Magruder High School in 2005.
“I couldn’t believe that’s correct,” said Walstein, an English for Speakers of Other Languages resource teacher at Magruder High. “He was not enrolled in [English for Speakers of Other Languages] classes when he graduated from Magruder. His name is not familiar to me at all.”
Lee Evans, principal of Magruder High, couldn’t say how Magruder, a prestigious high school in a prestigious district, could issue a diploma to somebody whose English wasn’t proficient enough to stand trial in a U.S. courtroom.
“I don’t know why that would be,” Evans said. “I can’t answer that.”
Liberian immigrants residing in Montgomery County said the case had confused them, as well.
“We all speak English,” said Nicole Taylor, a Silver Spring resident who left Liberia four years ago. “At home your parents may speak to you in dialect, but our schools are English speaking, so if you went to school in Liberia you had to speak English.”
Montgomery County public schools spokesman Brian Edwards said in an e-mail that the district could attest only that “he received a diploma, which means that he met the requirements set forth by the state.” State requirements for high school degrees mandate four English class credits.
During a court hearing to weigh whether Kanneh needed an interpreter, Maura Lynch from the state’s attorney’s office asked the judge to consider proceeding without an interpreter based on statements Kanneh gave to county detectives.
The detective felt “we were at least in a position to ask the court to consider proceeding without an interpreter,” Lynch told the judge.
Kanneh’s attorney, Theresa Chernosky, acknowledged her client spoke English but said more than a basic understanding of the language was necessary for her to provide adequate defense.
At the end of that hearing, Circuit Judge James Ryan ruled Kanneh should be analyzed by a psychiatrist to determine whether he understood the court proceeding.
Kimberlee Schultz, communications director for the Office of the Public Defender that represents Kanneh, said a psychiatrist for the court recommended Kanneh be given an interpreter.
When no qualified interpreter for the obscure West African dialect could be found, the charges against Kanneh were dismissed. That is now being appeal appealed. Kanneh is now in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, according to Montgomery County Detention Center personnel.
Charges Dismissed Against Kanneh:
1. Sexual Abuse of a Minor Child, Plea: not guilty.
2. Cont/Course of Conduct/Sexual Abuse, Plea: not guilty.
3. Rape/Second degree, Plea: not guilty.
4. Sexual offense/second degree, Plea: not guilty.
5. Sexual offense/second degree, Plea: not guilty.
6. Sexual offense/third degree, Plea: not guilty.
7. Sexual offense/third degree, Plea: not guilty.
8. Sexual abuse of minor child, Plea: not guilty.
9. Sexual offense/third degree, Plea: not guilty.
