FREDERICK, MD -- The state's second-highest court reversed the conviction of a Deaf man accused of sexually abusing two girls at the Maryland School for the Deaf because he wasn't able to question the interpreter's translation of his responses during a police interrogation.
The Court of Special Appeals said Clarence Cepheus Taylor III, 40, was denied his constitutional right to confront and cross-examine the interpreter during his trial in Howard County Circuit Court in November 2013, the opinion said. Taylor said an interpreter who translated during his five-hour interrogation with a Howard County police detective had incorrectly interpreted his sign-language statements.
"It becomes kind of a game of telephone. A lot can be lost in those steps," said Taylor's attorney, Brandon Mead. He said Taylor's family has suffered, and his client has maintained his innocence.
Howard County state's attorney's office spokesman T. Wayne Kirwan said the office intends to appeal.
Taylor, who worked as a school aide, was sentenced to seven years in February 2014 after being found guilty of sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl at the Columbia campus.
Read The Full Story
Related:
Verdict In Maryland Deaf School Sex Abuse Case
Maryland School For The Deaf Abuse Sex Case
Courtroom Sign Language Prohibited Raise Concerns
Deaf Aide Teacher Charged With Sexual Abuse
Maryland Court Reverses Deaf Sex Conviction
Related Posts: #DeafSchools
