Waterloo Murder Suspect Says He Needed Interpreter

WATERLOO, Iowa (AP) — A man convicted in a fatal Waterloo shooting now says he only understood about half of his trial and needed an interpreter.

38-year-old Rodolfo Gonzalez requested a new trial Wednesday, saying he asked for a Spanish interpreter for his murder trial but never received assistance. He claims he could only communicate simple matters with his lawyers.

He was convicted of first-degree murder in the 2014 shooting that killed Celio Posada outside a Waterloo nightclub.

Attorney Aaron Hawbaker, who represented Gonzalez during the May 2015 trial, says his former client never requested an interpreter before or during the trial and had no difficulty communicating.

Online court records list his last name as Gonzalez, but he's also gone by the name of Rodolfo Gonzalez Pena.