Nguyen v. State

The defendant freely and voluntarily confessed to police after the detective advised him of his Miranda rights with the help of a Vietnamese telephone interpreter.

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A DeKalb County jury convicted Hien Van Nguyen of a single count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon OCGA § 16-5-21 a 2.1 He was sentenced to 20 years confinement. Granted leave to file an out-of-time appeal by the DeKalb County Superior Court, Nguyen now appeals the superior court’s denial of his motion for new trial, contending that the superior court: 1 erred by refusing to suppress his confession upon finding that he knowingly and intelligently waived his Miranda 2 rights, and 2 erred by allowing testimony describing him as “in jail” without giving a curative instruction thereon —this improperly putting his character in issue. Finding these claims of error to be without merit, we affirm. 1.The record shows that although his court-appointed attorney advised him not to do so, Nguyen, who is Vietnamese, asked to make a statement to Detective John Germano at the conclusion of his preliminary hearing. He did so in broken, simple sentence English, later repeating his request to Detective Germano upon being driven back to confinement. Given Nguyen’s repeated requests to make a statement, Detective Germano took Nguyen to police headquarters, placed him in an interview room, and using a telephone Vietnamese interpreter, advised him of his Miranda rights, among other things, determining that Nguyen had a ninth grade education. Nguyen’s confession followed.

By his brief on appeal, Nguyen correctly points out that the Vietnamese interpreter at the Jackson-Denno 3 hearing testified that the telephone interpreter erred in quoting Nguyen as having said, “I’m fully aware of my rights, and thank you.” However, the record otherwise shows that Nguyen understood his Miranda rights. And Nguyen’s claim to the contrary notwithstanding, the record shows that he was fully aware of Detective Germano’s status as a police officer.

Nguyen v. State

The defendant freely and voluntarily confessed to police after the detective advised him of his Miranda rights with the help of a Vietnamese telephone interpreter.

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