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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Saturday, March 2, 2002

Man, 21, guilty in Manoa robbery

By David Waite
Advertiser Staff Writer

A state judge yesterday found 21-year-old Shaun Rodrigues guilty of the charges involving a home-invasion robbery of a mother and daughter in Manoa on July 8, 2000.

Shaun Rodrigues was found guilty yesterday for a home-invasion robbery two years ago.
Circuit Judge Virginia Crandall Crandall found Rodrigues guilty of one count of first-degree burglary, two counts of first-degree robbery and two counts of kidnapping and set sentencing for April 29.

City Deputy Prosecutor Russell Uehara said he will ask for an extended prison term of life with the possibility of parole based on the argument that Rodrigues is a "multiple offender" as the result of the Manoa robbery.

Uehara said Rodrigues faces mandatory 20-year sentences for each of the robbery counts because a handgun was used to threaten the victims, Dawn Sugihara and her mother, Dianne.

During Rodrigues' jury-waived trial, which began last summer and was suspended for several months, the Sugiharas testified that they were made to lay face down in a second-floor bedroom while an armed intruder spent about 30 minutes rummaging through the home looking for money and jewelry.

Dianne Sugihara resisted the robber's demands to give him her wedding ring, but removed it quickly after the man threatened to cut off her finger, according to testimony at the trial.

Rodrigues' lawyer, William Harrison, asserted during the trial that it was a case of mistaken identity.

Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.