In early May of this year it was reported that so-called typos in a Spanish translation may have been so egregious that they violated the rights of a suspect in the Newark, New Jersey schoolyard shootings.State Superior Court Judge Michael J. Nelson today granted a request by defense attorney Michael Robbins to have a language expert examine the 18 errors in the Spanish version of the Miranda rights given to the suspect’s mother.

Detectives brought Anna Gomez to Newark police headquarters on Aug. 9, 2007 to gain her permission to talk to her 15-year-old son, according to Detective Sgt. Miguel Arroyo. Gerardo was in custody, suspected of robbing and killing three students behind Mount Vernon School on Aug. 4, 2007. State law prohibits police from questioning a juvenile without a parent’s consent.

Because Anna Gomez indicated she felt more comfortable speaking Spanish than English, police provided a typewritten Spanish translation of the Miranda warnings and waiver. The defense attorney has argued that these errors have interfered with the suspect’s mother’s understanding of her son’s rights.

Defendant Gerardo Gomez, above, lowers his head as his attorney speaks during an April hearing in Superior Court in Newark. The judge in the case granted an examination of the Spanish version of the Miranda rights, which had typos, given to Gomez’s mother.

Assistant Essex County Prosecutor Thomas McTigue, however, said the court should consider the context of the entire interview in its ruling. “This hearing is not going to hang on a single word of a single phrase,” McTigue said.

In court, Arroyo admitted during cross-examination today that there were errors in the translation, but they did not affect Anna Gomez’s comprehension of the form’s content. “The form had the problem, not the reader,” he said.

Robbins continued to argue the errors interfered with the defendant’s mother’s ability to understand her son’s rights, and how to protect them.