United States v. Jeronimo Botello-Rosales

MEMORANDUM

Jeronimo Botello-Rosales appeals his conviction of conspiracy to manufacture marijuana in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 841 (a)(1), and possession of a firearm by a person unlawfully in the United States in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922 (g)(5). We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 , and we remand to the district court for a new evidentiary hearing.

Botello entered a guilty plea following the district court’s denial of his motion to suppress statements he gave law enforcement officers. Botello argues that the district court erred in denying the suppression motion because the police officer violated Miranda v. Arizona, 884 U.S. 486 , 478, 86 S.Ct. 1602 , 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), by preceding his interrogations with a mistranslated Spanish-language warning that failed to convey the government’s obligation to appoint counsel for indigent defendants. An officer translated the warning into Spanish from memory, the interrogation was not recorded, and no Spanish-certified court reporter was present at the suppression hearing, which itself was not recorded. Therefore, where the officer testified about what he remembered saying to Botello, the record states simply: “(The answer…