Weldon v. State

The defendant failed to prove that he would have received a different trial outcome had trial counsel objected to the trial court's use of non-certified interpreters at trial.

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After a jury trial, Brian Weldon was convicted on numerous counts of armed robbery and aggravated assault in connection with a series of restaurant robberies. He argues on appeal that the trial court failed to comply with rules promulgated by the Supreme Court of Georgia regarding the use of non-certified court interpreters at trial, but he did not preserve this claim for appeal. He argues that his trial counsel’s failure to object to the use of the interpreters constituted ineffective assistance, but he has not shown he was prejudiced by that failure. Finally, he argues that the trial court erred in failing to rebuke the prosecutor for an improper statement made during closing argument, but, again, he did not preserve this claim for appeal. Accordingly, we affirm.

The state presented evidence at trial that, over the course of several days in March 2007, Weldon participated in the armed robbery of four DeKalb County restaurants. Some of the victims were struck or shot during the robberies. One of Weldon’s accomplices testified at trial about Weldon’s involvement in the robberies. The state presented similar transaction evidence that Weldon had committed armed robberies in other counties during the same time period. The state also presented evidence that one of the victims was shot with a gun belonging to Weldon. Numerous persons who were at the restaurants at the time of the robberies testified to the circumstances of those crimes. Several of those witnesses did not speak English, and the trial court used Cambodian-, Mandarin-, and Korean-speaking interpreters to translate their trial testimony.

Weldon v. State

The defendant failed to prove that he would have received a different trial outcome had trial counsel objected to the trial court's use of non-certified interpreters at trial.

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