Episode
United States v. Duran-Gonzalez: Collateral Attacks and Interpreter Rights
- Podcast
- Swear on the Stand
- Published
- Jun 11, 2026
- Duration seconds
- 1689
- Processing state
not_requested
Actions
POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/swear-on-the-stand-7111404/episodes/united-states-v-duran-gonzalez-collateral-attacks-and-interpreter-rights/transcription-requests
Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode.GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/swear-on-the-stand-7111404/united-states-v-duran-gonzalez-collateral-attacks-and-interpreter-rights.md
Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource.
Summary
This episode details a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision regarding Heraclio Duran-Gonzalez , who challenged his status as a career offender during sentencing. The defendant argued that his prior drug convictions were unconstitutional because the courts failed to provide a translator for his native language, Tarahumara . However, the appellate court determined that his claim constituted an impermissible collateral attack on previous judgments. Citing Supreme Court precedent , the judges ruled that such challenges are only allowed if a defendant was completely denied legal counsel . Because the lack of an interpreter does not equate to an absence of representation , the court affirmed the original 151-month prison sentence.