A judge should throw out the statements of a woman who killed a 3-year-old boy in a grisly hit-and-run last year because her rights to silence and an attorney were not accurately translated first, attorneys said Monday.
Lazara Arellano de Hogue, 40, admitted to slamming her pickup truck into 55-year-old Marjorie Thomas and a baby stroller holding her grandson Elijah Cozart along Goucher Boulevard on Dec. 1. De Hogue also told police she didn?t realize Elijah and the carriage were trapped beneath her car for nearly one mile as she sped to her Towson-area apartment.
But de Hogue, a Spanish-speaking Mexican immigrant, agreed to waive her Miranda rights because she didn?t understand them, defense attorney Michael Zwaig argued before Judge John Hennegan during a motions hearing in Baltimore County Circuit Court.
Zwaig said the Spanish-speaking officer called to explain a rights waiver form translated each clause verbally and in writing ? except for the final statement granting de Hogue?s consent.
“You took the time to translate the lesser questions but the most important one, the overarching one, is the only one not translated,” Zwaig said to Officer Manuel Rios on the stand. “There is critical, critical language in this waiver that is not translated, or at least not translated property.”
De Hogue?s defense attorney argued Rios also failed to translate her “absolute” right to silence and told her anything she said could be used against her, but didn?t say it would.
De Hogue, an American citizen who reads and writes at a fourth-grade level, is facing vehicular manslaughter charges along with several motor violations.
Investigators said de Hogue told them she remembers seeing a woman pushing a baby carriage between the two left lanes, appearing indecisive about continuing across Goucher Boulevard.
A passenger in de Hogue?s car screamed at her to stop after impact, but de Hogue refused, saying “her vehicle was acting strange.” She also said she could not stop because she wanted to get home to meet her two children, Rios testified.
Investigators questioned de Hogue?s sincerity ? Rios testified she “pretended” to cry during interrogation ? and her ability to understand English. Det. Steven Saab said de Hogue comprehended the questions he asked her in English when he arrived at her apartment and responded in broken English.
“I asked her why she left the scene,” Saab said. “She said she had a green light and it wasn?t her fault.”
De Hogue is being held at the Baltimore County Detention Center.
