AK · jury_instructions
Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instruction 1.06A
Credibility of Witnesses - Witness Who Testifies Through Interpreter
In this case, one of the witnesses presented [his] [her] testimony through an interpreter. The interpreter is required to interpret between English and [specify other language] accurately and impartially.
You must evaluate interpreted testimony as you would any other testimony. That is, you must not give interpreted testimony any greater or lesser weight than you would if the witness had spoken English.
[A person who speaks or understands limited English also has the right to the services of an interpreter. You must evaluate this testimony as you would any other testimony. That is, you must not give the testimony any greater or lesser weight simply because the witness testified both in English and through an interpreter.]
At times, you may hear a long question or phrase in one language interpreted as a short question or phrase or even a single word in another language. This is normal and should not cause you to doubt the fidelity of the interpretation. For example, the English word for the month of April is interpreted in Navajo as “the month in which the baby eagles are born.” Therefore, the Navajo interpretation would be much longer the English word “April.”
Some of you may speak the language that is being interpreted. When a witness testifies through an interpreter, you must accept the English interpretation of that testimony even if you would have interpreted the testimony differently. This ensures that all jurors consider the same evidence.
History
Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions 1.06A, dated (2013). Prepared by the Alaska Civil Pattern Jury Instructions Committee; published by the Alaska Court System. The Alaska Court System states that these instructions "have not been approved or promulgated by any court or the Alaska Bar Association."
Provenance
- Source
- courts.alaska.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-09-24
- Edition
- 2026-09-24
- Content hash
9a579b155122f9c7344f03c6bd52554da0da289c716d5569ce486a6a2373313a
The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.
Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.