Deaf man wins settlement after denied interpreter

http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/event/apArticle/id/D9AT88M01/

A 34-year-old deaf man who was denied access to a sign-language interpreter in jail has reached a settlement with two southern Minnesota counties.

Latell Chaney will receive $75,000. Nobles County will pay $50,000, and Martin County will pay the rest.

In March 2006, Chaney was arrested in Fairmont after a crash involving a domestic dispute. He said it was an accident, but he was arrested and denied an interpreter. He was moved to Nobles County, and again denied an interpreter.

The charges against him were dismissed when an appeals court overturned his conviction.

A jail administrator in Martin County says the county updated its policy on providing interpreters. Nobles County Sheriff Kent Wilkening says his jail now supplies interpreters in a timely manner to inmates requesting them.