Language barrier comes in near the end of the case

Now he tells us.

Humberto Mendoza-Lopez, 29, was nearing the end of his journey through the legal system last week when he informed the judge of something one would have thought he would have brought up before.

Mendoza-Lopez pleaded guilty to predatory sexual assault of a child in exchange for a promise that his prison sentence would not exceed 20 years.

But last week, he was back in front of Associate Judge George Bridges asking to withdraw his plea because he really did not understand what was being said when he entered the plea.

Mendoza-Lopez told the judge that he was in the dark because a Spanish language interpreter translated what was being said during the hearing.

The problem with that, Mendoza-Lopez said, is that he does not speak Spanish but instead is fluent in Chatino, a language spoken by about 23,000 residents in the southern part of the Mexican state of Oaxca.

Imagine the surprise of Assistant State's Attorney Matthew Demartini in seeing all his hard work threatening to be for naught.

Mendoza-Lopez, Demartini said, signed a Miranda warning form written in Spanish, was questioned by a Spanish-speaking detective, provided police with a handwritten statement in Spanish and has used the services of the aforementioned translator at each and every court appearance.

And now he finds out Mendoza-Lopez could not understand a single thing that was being said.

Or maybe he could. The exceedingly skeptical Demartini said he intends to argue vigorously against Mendoza-Lopez's motion to withdraw his plea when Bridges hears the formal motion on May 11.

As for Mendoza-Lopez, he may want to be careful what he wishes for.

Demartini said that if the motion is granted, that cap of 20 years becomes a thing of the past and all the original charges against Mendoza-Lopez are put back on the table.

That, Demartini said, will leave Mendoza-Lopez looking at a sentence of between 41 and 120 years in prison should he be convicted.

Back to his roots Bill Hetland, communications director for the substance abuse treatment agency Nicasa, is heading back to his old stomping grounds of the Iron Range of Minnesota this week.It turns out that before he got a real job, Hetland was the editor of the Mesabi Daily News in Virginia, Minn.In 1981, he wrote an editorial about the need for a YMCA in the community, and then went on to organize community meetings and drive the project forward.He left the community before the dream was realized, but in 1984, the national YMCA issued a charter for the Mesabi Family YMCA and the facility was built through donations and grants.Hetland is going to be the guest speaker at a fundraiser for the organization, and said he remembers his role in the project fondly."In my 21 years in journalism, I had never written a column, before or after the one about the YMCA, that received so much response from readers," he said.