The Sixth Amendment requires courts to provide reasonable accommodations to hearing-impaired defendants equal to the severity of their impairment, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has held.
But addressing a case of first impression, the court also said, “perfection is not required by the Sixth Amendment” because it’s the defendant’s responsibility to tell the court about any impairment. If that doesn’t happen, a judge need only make those accommodations necessary to address a problem “that was, or reasonably should have been, clear or obvious.”
