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Rule 47 – Interpreters for Proceedings in Court

May 14, 2021 | Criminal Procedure, New Hampshire

(a) Whenever a defendant, a witness, or a non-party individual having a significant interest in a court proceeding as defined by the Judicial Branch’s Language Services Plan, requires the assistance of an interpreter in order to testify or understand proceedings in court, the court shall arrange for the participation of an interpreter who meets the qualifications set forth in the Language Services Plan.
(b) In addition to the participation of the interpreter contemplated in paragraph (a) of this rule, whenever, in the case of an indigent defendant, defense counsel reasonably believes that counsel requires a separate interpreter in order to communicate with the defendant, counsel shall make application to the court for authorization under RSA 604-A:6 for funds to hire an interpreter for the purposes of facilitating out-of-court and in-court communication between counsel and the defendant. If the cost does not exceed $500 in superior court proceedings, no motion is required. See Superior Court Administrative Order 2019-002.

N.H. R. Crim. P. 47

Adopted effective January 1, 2016 in Strafford and Cheshire counties and July 1, 2016 in Belknap County; amended July 18, 2019, effective August 6, 2019 in Rockingham County..

Comment

Rule 47(a) refers to the New Hampshire Judicial Branch’s Language Services Plan, adopted effective February 6, 2018. Rule 47(b) addresses the fact that a party requiring interpretation services will often need an interpreter to facilitate in-court and out-of-court attorney-client conversations, when the attorney is not fluent in the client’s language. The separation of Rule 47 into the two paragraphs gives structural expression to the view that it will sometimes be necessary, when the defendant lacks fluency in English and counsel lacks fluency in the defendant’s language, to have two interpreters during in-court proceedings. One stands available to interpret all on-the-record speech of the witnesses, the judge, and counsel into the defendant’s language and to interpret the speech of any non-English-speaking witnesses into English. The second interpreter would provide interpretation of confidential attorney-client communications, when the attorney is not fluent in the defendant’s language.