UPW leader's case goes to jury
By David Waite
Advertiser Courts Writer
The fate of United Public Workers union leader Gary Rodrigues and his daughter, Robin Rodrigues Sabatini, is now in the hands of seven women and five men after federal Judge David Ezra turned a fraud case against the two over to the jury just before noon yesterday.
Jury members left the federal courthouse at 4:30 yesterday afternoon without reaching a verdict and are scheduled to resume deliberations at 9 a.m. today.
Rodrigues and his daughter are charged with offenses that include mail fraud, money laundering and defrauding a union healthcare plan. Rodrigues alone was charged with embezzling union assets and accepting kickbacks in connection with a union benefit plan.
Federal prosecutors characterize the case being about "greed and power" by Rodrigues to funnel union funds into his own pocket and his daughter's companies, but defense lawyers told the jury that the government's evidence does not support a conviction.
The jury heard nearly three weeks of testimony from prosecution witnesses, while the defense called no witnesses and claimed the government failed to meet its burden of proving the charges against the two.
Now, it will be up to the jury to sift through thousands of pages of documents submitted as evidence during the trial and hundreds of pages of their own written notes.
The case is a complex one, and a verdict is not expected to be reached quickly. The form for Rodrigues lists 101 counts and jurors must weigh the evidence the prosecution presented in each case. They must do the same for Sabatini, although in her case, the number of counts is about a dozen fewer.
In his final comments, Ezra urged the jury to pay close attention to the jury instructions, which explain what the government must prove in each charge brought against Rodrigues and Sabatini. Ezra also encouraged jurors not to ask that any of the trial testimony be read back to them "unless absolutely necessary," for fear that it might add several more days to to deliberations.
The prosecution contends that Rodrigues had companies that furnished union members with dental and medical insurance set aside a small percentage of the money they received on behalf of union members to be used for consulting contracts.
Rodrigues first used the money derived from the consulting fees to pay off a personal debt and later steered hundreds of thousands of dollars to two companies owned by his daughter without telling union members, prosecutors claim.
But lawyers for Rodrigues and Sabatini said the government failed to prove the money was not used for legitimate consulting work. They claim Rodrigues was authorized by the union's board of directors to negotiate contracts on his own and did not need board approval for the consulting fees.
In the long-run, the medical and dental insurance plans negotiated by Rodrigues gave union members more value for their money than health plans offered by the state, defense lawyers claim.
Ezra is leaving this morning to preside over a case involving ground water rights in Phoenix, Ariz., and senior federal Judge Sam King, will fill in for Ezra, who is not expected to return until Monday.
Reach David Waite at dwaite@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8030.
