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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, November 14, 2002

Trial of union boss, daughter nears end

By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer

The trial of union leader Gary Rodrigues and his daughter, Robin Sabatini, is drawing to a rapid close after their lawyers told federal Judge David Ezra yesterday that they will not call any defense witnesses.


Gary Rodrigues and his daughter, Robin Sabatini, told a federal judge they will not testify at their trial.

Advertiser library photos • Oct. 2, 2002

Doron Weinberg, Rodrigues' lawyer, told Ezra that he and Richard Hoke, Sabatini's lawyer, had decided to rest their case shortly after Ezra announced he was denying a defense motion to acquit Rodrigues and Sabatini on the grounds that the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they are guilty of any of the 101 counts lodge against them.

The announcement surprised Ezra, who questioned Rodrigues and Sabatini to make sure they understood they could testify on their own behalf if they wanted to.

After nearly three weeks of testimony by prosecution witnesses, Rodrigues and Sabatini answered a brief series of yes-or-no questions posed by Ezra, indicating they understood they had a right to testify at the trial but were opting not to.

Closing arguments are set for this morning and the jury could begin deliberations as early as this afternoon.

Federal prosecutors Florence Nakakuni and Lynn Panagakos say Rodrigues negotiated contracts with medical and dental insurance providers on behalf of union members and included a provision within those contracts that a portion of the premiums paid to the insurance providers be set aside for the United Public Workers union to hire a consultant to periodically review the programs.

Instead of hiring legitimate consultants, Rodrigues steered the consulting fees first to his former girlfriend's stepfather to pay off a personal debt and then to his daughter, who did little or no work, the prosecution contends.

The defense maintains that the money set aside for consulting fees came out of the employers' contribution to the insurance plans, not the union members' pockets and that union members got more coverage at a lower cost by enrolling in the plans negotiated by Rodrigues.

Despite prosecution claims that Sabatini was paid for doing nothing, she worked at resolving insurance billing errors, helped during open enrollment periods and completed a project aimed at streamlining the union's paperwork process, the defense claims.

Outside the courtroom, Weinberg said the decision not to call defense witnesses was a tactical one that will force the jury to focus on the question of whether the government met its burden of proving that Rodrigues and Sabatini engaged in criminal activity.

"The government has not proved there was any illegal activity," Weinberg said. "They just threw a bunch of stuff against the wall and said, 'Prove you're not a criminal.' "

Nakakuni and Panagakos could not be reached to respond to Weinberg's statements yesterday.