A New Jersey appeals court has ruled that police and prosecutors need to take greater care in ensuring that non-English-speaking defendants clearly understand their right to decline interrogation, and reiterated that the state has a “heavy burden” of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants knowingly and willingly give up to right to remain silent.

The three-judge Appellate Division panel, in a published ruling in State v. A.M., voided a Mexican native's plea to a sexual assault charge and six-year sentence because it was not clear that the defendant knew what he was doing when he waived his Miranda rights in admitting to inappropriately touching his step-granddaughter.

Appellate Division Judge Jose Fuentes, joined by Judges Harry Carroll and Greta Gooden-Brown, said it was unclear whether the Spanish-speaking police officer and a clerk who transcribed the taped interrogation, both with Hispanic surnames, were actually fluent in Spanish, and whether the defendant was literate even in his native language.

“This case … illustrates the difference between knowing a foreign language and being able to accurately and completely interpret the critically important words spoken by a witness in the course of an interrogation,” Fuentes wrote.

“The mere fact of having a Spanish last name does not create a rational basis to infer anything about a person's linguistic abilities,” Fuentes added.

Fuentes also wrote a separate concurring opinion in which he urged the state to take greater steps to ensure that properly trained interpreters are available to translate defendants' constitutional rights when they do not speak English.

The case involves a man, identified only as A.M., who was arrested by police in Bergenfield and indicted for sexually assaulting his 14-year-old step-granddaughter. The defendant spoke little or no English, according to the decision.

The police turned to one of its officers, Richard Ramos, who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household, to act as an interpreter. Ramos and A.M. spoke in Spanish and, at Ramos' urging, A.M. waived his right to remain silent and admitted that he inappropriately touched the girl, the court said.

Later, a trial judge in Bergen County denied A.M.'s motion to suppress his statement. He pleaded guilty to a sexual assault charge and was sentenced to six years in prison. He then appealed.

Fuentes, in reversing, said there was no showing that prosecutors properly met their “heavy burden” of proving, as required under the state Supreme Court's 2009 ruling in State v. Yohnnson, that A.M. knowingly and willing waived his Miranda rights.

“The judge found that 'nothing in the record suggests that the waiver was made under duress, coercion or intimidation.' We disagree,” Fuentes said. He noted that Ramos admitted during testimony that he paraphrased some of A.M.'s responses, and that the clerk who transcribed the interrogation had no proper training.

“The judge's analysis improperly shifts the burden of proof to defendant to alert the interrogating officers about any difficulty he may be having in understanding the ramifications of a legal waiver,” Fuentes said. “The judge assumed that defendant was literate in Spanish without a proper evidential foundation.”

in his concurring opinion, Fuentes said the judiciary could not mandate that law enforcement agencies use properly trained interpreters during interrogations of non-English-speaking defendants, but he urged the Attorney General's Office to develop guidelines for police departments to follow.

“Until this issue is addressed in a uniform manner befitting its importance, the constitutional right against self-incrimination of limited English proficient suspects remains on how well trained, presumptively partial individuals interpret the interrogator's questions and the suspects' answers,” Fuentes said.

A.M.'s attorney, Jane Personette, of the law office of Brian Neary in Hackensack said the ruling “demonstrates the importance of language and that translations be obtained in an impartial manner.

A spokesperson for the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office was not immediately available for comment.