Copyright 1995-1999 Touch N' Go Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. No claim made to official government works.
This rule builds upon former Rule 43(g) (2) of the Alaska Rules of Civil Procedure which provides that when a witness does not understand and speak the English language, an interpreter shall be sworn to interpret for him. The interpreter must be qualified and sworn like any other expert witness.
In both civil and criminal cases the party offering the witness with the language problem generally will have to supply an interpreter and pay the interpreter's fee. Presumably, an indigent criminal defendant may compel the government to pay such a fee. In civil cases the trial court has the power under Rule 706 to appoint an interpreter, to assess the fee against one or more parties, or to provide for payment of the fee from funds available to the court.
Appointment of an interpreter for the indigent defendant is probably constitutionally required if the defendant's understanding of the proceedings against him depends upon it. A handicapped person (deaf, mute, or having a speech impairment) has as much of a right to an interpreter as a person speaking only a foreign language.
Only the interpreter's oath differs from procedure followed with other witnesses: the interpreter swears or affirms that he will make a true translation. See, e.g., the model interpreter's oath, Chapter 37, XIII, Magistrate's Handbook.
These Court Rules were automatically converted to HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) format from electronic files provided by the Alaska Court System. Every effort has been made to ensure their accuracy, but neither Touch N' Go Systems, Inc., The Alaska Legal Resource Center, nor the Law Offices of James B. Gottstein are responsible for their accuracy or for any damages arising out of any possible inaccuracy. If any mistakes are found, please let us know at one of the addresses listed below.
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Copyright 1995-1999 by Touch N' Go Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. No copyright claim is made to the text of the rules.
Last Modified 7/14/1999
