On May 30 2012, Panama-Guide reported: "Today Ron's lawyers called him to say the Supreme Court had decided a motion in his favor, the conviction had been overturned, there would be no new trial, and all charges had been dropped".
However, the initial newspaper reports at: Panamá América and GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado Post-Independent went dead. So the reporting may have been premature and all this assumes that the decision on pages 605 - 610 of Registro Judicial - Septiembre 2013 is truly the last word on the subject and that the phrase "DECLARA FUNDADO EL INCIDENTE DE NULIDAD" means the "conviction was overturned, there would be no new trial, and all charges had been dropped".
Supreme Court Overturns Murder Conviction Against American Expatriate in Panama - Panama Guide
Panama Guide, thousands of news articles in English about the Republic of Panama
El fallo, bajo la ponencia del magistrado Víctor Benavides, indica que se violó el procedimiento penal contra McGrew, como es el derecho a la defensa, ya que no tuvo acceso a un intérprete o traductor cuando se le dictó su llamamiento a juicio, y mucho menos durante la audiencia, en donde un jurado de conciencia lo declaró culpable del homicidio de Antonio Morales.
For a defendant to be linguistically present, the interpretation must be impartial, complete, and accurate. In the legal setting, the interpretation should reflect the tone, intonation, register, and educational level of every source language speaker, because it is the interpreter’s words in the target language — and not the original source language utterances — that become the official court record. The following exchanges illustrate “a failure of communication” when slang and regional varieties of Spanish are not taken into account in the interpretation:
...
Another example is from the examination of a witness who had entered the U.S. by crossing the Mexican border with a smuggler, a coyote:
Attorney: How did you cross the river?
Witness: A caballito (“piggyback”).
Interpreter: On a little horse.
Attorney: (Who, until now, had not heard anything about a little horse in this case): And how was that little horse?
A Panamanian court has overturned the conviction of a former Roseburg police officer living in Panama who was found guilty last year of murdering a man he said was burglarizing a neighbor's home.
...
PanamaAmerica.com reported an appeals court ruled the trial violated McGrew's due process rights in multiple ways, including by failing to provide him with access to a translator.
McGrew's sister, Linda Fisher of Roseburg, said this morning that McGrew was scheduled to appear in court today and that she hoped to learn later in the day whether his legal troubles were at an end.
Replies
On May 30 2012, Panama-Guide reported: "Today Ron's lawyers called him to say the Supreme Court had decided a motion in his favor, the conviction had been overturned, there would be no new trial, and all charges had been dropped".
However, the initial newspaper reports at: Panamá América and GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado Post-Independent went dead. So the reporting may have been premature and all this assumes that the decision on pages 605 - 610 of Registro Judicial - Septiembre 2013 is truly the last word on the subject and that the phrase "DECLARA FUNDADO EL INCIDENTE DE NULIDAD" means the "conviction was overturned, there would be no new trial, and all charges had been dropped".
Haven't seen you around for a while, Mateo - and as usual, your well-researched information clears things up.
Muchas gracias.
He's back! bienvenidos de nuevo, Mateo!
Couldn't resist.
Once those links went away the only information (that I have found) is the Registro Judicial reference.
If that reference is definitive (and I haven't misread it), the case was decided on "due process" grounds.
According to Panamá América it was overturned because he was not provided with an interpreter ...
http://elpanamaamerica.terra.com.pa/periodico/edicion-anterior/naci...
El fallo, bajo la ponencia del magistrado Víctor Benavides, indica que se violó el procedimiento penal contra McGrew, como es el derecho a la defensa, ya que no tuvo acceso a un intérprete o traductor cuando se le dictó su llamamiento a juicio, y mucho menos durante la audiencia, en donde un jurado de conciencia lo declaró culpable del homicidio de Antonio Morales.
The Florida Bar comments on the challenges for court interpreters.
http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/JNJournal01.nsf/Author/089C9FC0...
For a defendant to be linguistically present, the interpretation must be impartial, complete, and accurate. In the legal setting, the interpretation should reflect the tone, intonation, register, and educational level of every source language speaker, because it is the interpreter’s words in the target language — and not the original source language utterances — that become the official court record. The following exchanges illustrate “a failure of communication” when slang and regional varieties of Spanish are not taken into account in the interpretation:
...
Another example is from the examination of a witness who had entered the U.S. by crossing the Mexican border with a smuggler, a coyote:
Attorney: How did you cross the river?
Witness: A caballito (“piggyback”).
Interpreter: On a little horse.
Attorney: (Who, until now, had not heard anything about a little horse in this case): And how was that little horse?
Witness: Era chaparrito y de bigote.
Interpreter: He was short and had a moustache.21
From the GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colorado Post-Independent newspaper (Online)
http://www.postindependent.com/article/NR/20120531/NEWS/120539959/1...
Thursday, May 31, 2012
A Panamanian court has overturned the conviction of a former Roseburg police officer living in Panama who was found guilty last year of murdering a man he said was burglarizing a neighbor's home.
...
PanamaAmerica.com reported an appeals court ruled the trial violated McGrew's due process rights in multiple ways, including by failing to provide him with access to a translator.
McGrew's sister, Linda Fisher of Roseburg, said this morning that McGrew was scheduled to appear in court today and that she hoped to learn later in the day whether his legal troubles were at an end.