Judge requests new tech for trial

CELINA - A Mercer County judge wants to use new technology to ease the burden of an interpreter appointed in an ongoing murder case.

"We've got this death-penalty case … and that requires more detailed procedures not otherwise required in other criminal matters," Mercer County Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey Ingraham told county commissioners Greg Homan and Rick Muhlenkamp on Thursday afternoon.

Ingraham said he'd like to purchase three tablet-like devices at an estimated cost of $2,770. He believes they would help Barbara A. Fisher of Clemson, South Carolina, in translating comments made in pretrial hearings for twenty-year-old defendant Francy Majo of Coldwater.

Majo speaks mainly Marshallese and has a limited ability to communicate in English.

"We think that this may assist the court-appointed interpreter to translate the proceedings to the defendant and make sure he understands what's going on in the proceedings," Ingrahm said. "This is going to cause an additional expense for this case beyond what we would normally have with the procedures that we need to employ."
Majo on Feb. 16 pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, an unspecified felony; two first-degree felony counts of murder; first-degree felony rape; first-degree felony aggravated robbery; and first-degree felony aggravated burglary. He could face the death penalty on the aggravated murder charge.

Marshallese interpreters are rare, according to Ingraham. Officials were able to locate and appoint Fisher as a court interpreter. So far, Fisher has performed her duties in pretrial hearings remotely from South Carolina via online video conferencing software GoToMeeting, according to Ingraham.

"As each person is speaking in the courtroom - whether it's the judge, defense counsel, prosecutor - she is simultaneously transferring through her cellphone to Mr. Majo what is being said in Marshallese," Ingraham said. "She did not feel comfortable the last time we were in court."

Different people spoke without taking pauses, making it difficult to translate to her client everything that had been said, Ingraham explained.

"The picture that she's receiving is of everybody at once. There is a program that allows for the person who is speaking to be shown to her on the transmission, that is voice-activated," he said. "So if the judge speaks, the camera in the device that the judge has in front of him will immediately activate, and she will only see the picture of the judge."

Ingraham then proposed purchasing three Microsoft Surface Pro devices for the prosector, defense counsel and bench to run the program.

He also noted that the interpreter translates remotely only for pretrial hearings lasting fewer than two hours. Any hearing lasting more than two hours requires the interpreter to appear in person, he said. Moreover, Ingraham noted it's important to have an interpreter in the courtroom during any evidentiary hearings.

"It's more when somebody is sworn to give testimony and there's questioning by the attorney and the person's testimony is the evidence. Those are the types of proceedings where the court is concerned that the record shows that the interpreter was able to translate for the defendant exactly what the witness is saying," Ingraham said.

Also, having a recording of the translation is important for the integrity of the case.

"Thinking ahead for any kind of appeal, we want to make sure that we preserve and make that part of the record that what she is translating to the defendant can be verified to have been accurate," he said. "So there's got to be a recording of that."

Commissioners took no action but Muhlenkamp said officials must follow procedures and cover the associated costs.

Court officials estimate the county will incur expenses of at least $62,435 related to the case in 2018 alone, some of which may be eligible for reimbursement through the Office of the Ohio Public Defender. County commissioners have set aside about $84,000 this year for death penalty cases but according to Muhlenkamp are still seeing costs from a 2017 case in which Cory William Eischen of Washington Township was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison on charges stemming from the Sept. 25, 2016, death of 4-year-old Jaxxen Baker. Eischen had been facing a possible death penalty if convicted in a jury trial. By agreeing to a plea deal, he avoided the jury trial.

Majo is charged in connection with the death of Sandra Renner, 47, who was found dead on Jan. 3 on her living room floor at 914 N. Elm St., Coldwater.

In a court document, Coldwater Police Detective David Dues said he'd contacted three occupants of a neighboring apartment on Jan. 3. The fourth resident, Majo, had arrived home from work in the early morning hours of Jan. 4.

Majo initially had denied any involvement in Renner's death, according to court documents. When presented with pictures of evidence collected from the apartment complex's dumpster, Majo reportedly eventually admitted the items collected from the dumpster were his and that he had discarded them in the dumpster.

According to court documents, Majo then said that a few days prior - he believed it was Dec. 31 - he had walked to Renner's apartment, stabbed her to death and then left the scene.