Mont. Code Ann. § 49-4-503 – Deaf person as participant in judicial or administrative proceeding -- interpreter to be used

A qualified interpreter must be appointed as follows:

(1) In any case before any court or a grand jury in which a deaf person is a party, either as a complainant, defendant, or witness, the court shall appoint a qualified interpreter to interpret the proceedings to the deaf person and interpret the deaf person's testimony or statements and to assist in preparation with counsel.
(2) At all stages in any proceeding of a judicial or quasi-judicial nature before any agency of the state or governing body or agency of a local government in which a deaf person is a principal party in interest, either as a complainant, defendant, witness, or supplicant, the agency or governing body shall appoint a qualified interpreter to interpret the proceedings to the deaf person and to interpret the deaf person's testimony or statements.
(3)
1. (a) In any proceedings in which a deaf person may be subjected to confinement or criminal sanction or in any proceeding preliminary, including a coroner's inquest, grand jury proceedings, and proceedings relating to mental health commitments, the presiding judicial officer shall appoint a qualified interpreter to assist the deaf person throughout the proceedings.
2. (b) Upon arresting a deaf person for an alleged violation of a criminal law and prior to interrogating or taking a statement of the deaf person, the arresting law enforcement official shall make available to the person, at the earliest possible time, a qualified interpreter to assist the person throughout the interrogation or taking of a statement.
3. (c) A statement, written or oral, made by a person who is deaf in reply to a question of a law enforcement officer or any other person having a prosecutorial function in any criminal or quasi-criminal proceeding may not be used against that deaf person unless either the statement was made or elicited through a qualified interpreter and was made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently or, in the case of waiver, the court makes a special finding that any statement made by the deaf person was made knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently.
4. (d) This subsection (3) does not apply to apprehensions, arrests, or statements involving a violation of the traffic laws of Montana.

History: En. Sec. 3, Ch. 245, L. 1979; amd. Sec. 1805, Ch. 56, L. 2009.