As Rodrigues embraced family members one by one, a woman identified by his lawyer as Rodrigues' sister began yelling at a city prosecutor, "This is so wrong; you guys sent an innocent person to prison. ... I hope you sleep well tonight."

Rodrigues was sentenced in 2004 to a maximum 20-year prison term after he was convicted in 2002 of the home invasion burglary, armed robbery and kidnapping of two Manoa women in 2000.

He was permitted to remain free on $75,000 bail while he appealed the convictions. On Dec. 7 the Hawai'i State Supreme Court, in a brief three-page decision, unanimously upheld the convictions.

Rodrigues had managed to remain free on bail for more than four years after repeated procedural delays and attempts by his attorney, William Harrison, to prove that someone else did it. In recent weeks, Harrison went so far as to take out newspaper advertisements asking the public for help in finding those responsible.

Harrison has maintained that Rodrigues was home sleeping when a gunman entered the victims' home on July 8, 2000.

"This is the blackest day in my life as a lawyer to see someone innocent go to jail," said Harrison, speaking outside the courtroom. He said he would be filing an appeal in federal court and that he had sent the case information to the Innocence Project, a nonprofit legal clinic that works to exonerate people through DNA evidence.

Deputy Prosecuting attorney Russell Uehara said the "conviction was good" and pointed out the state high court upheld it. He brushed aside claims by Harrison that the state law allowing for the visual identification of suspects is outdated as well as cries from Rodrigues' family that the wrong person was convicted.

"Crooks always claim they're innocent. He's guilty as charged, no matter what he (his attorney) and his family said," said Uehara, speaking after the proceedings.

Rodrigues' father, Todd Kurihara, declined comment.

In court yesterday, Judge Virginia Crandall allowed Harrison to make one more plea, despite an objection from Uehara. Rodrigues, dressed in a wrinkled, light-blue checkered shirt, said nothing as Harrison reiterated his belief that the state had convicted the wrong man.

"My client is not a monster," he told the court yesterday during a brief speech.

After Harrison finished, Crandall asked Rodrigues to stand before approving the state's motion to revoke Rodrigues' release, forcing him to immediately report to prison.

After Crandall left the courtroom, emotions boiled over.

Two of Rodrigues' relatives yelled at Uehara, who was standing behind several people next to the courtroom's jury box, punctuating their words by jabbing fingers in his direction. Rodrigues' younger brother punched at the air violently and had to be calmed by Rodrigues and another family member.

One of Rodrigues' supporters screamed a racial slur at Uehara.

Uehara characterized the attacks as "harassment" and "threatening" but said he would not immediately call police. Harrison said he "didn't blame" the Rodrigues family for their reaction and said they were very upset.

Outside the courtroom, more than 15 of Rodrigues' friends and relatives embraced and sobbed openly. One woman bobbed a small baby up and down in her arms while repeating that "one day you'll know your daddy is innocent."

The emotions in Crandall's courtroom were just the latest twist in the controversial, six-year-old case.

Rodrigues was found guilty in March 2002 of robbing Dawn Sugihara and her mother, Dianne, at gunpoint in July 2000.

Both women testified that they were forced to lie face-down on the floor in a second-story room of their Manoa home while Rodrigues spent about 30 minutes rummaging through the house for money and jewelry.

At one point, Rodrigues told Diane Sugihara that he might be forced to cut off her finger if she continued to resist attempts to take her wedding ring, Dawn Sugihara testified during trial. Her mother then quickly removed the ring, Sugihara said during Rodrigues' preliminary hearing.

Both identified Rodrigues as the gunman, but Rodrigues' family members, including his mother and brother, testified he was at their Kailua home at the time of the robbery.

The sentencing was repeatedly delayed until Crandall filed her formal written ruling in December 2003 finding Rodrigues guilty.

The sentencing was delayed to give Harrison time to find evidence exonerating his client and delayed again after Rodrigues, a member of the Hawai'i National Guard, was activated for Iraq duty on Aug. 16.

He was later deactivated to clear the way for sentencing.