The Hialeah hoodlums who snub their nose at state Sunshine Laws and collect absentee ballots like some folk collect stamps got away with it again Tuesday.
A jury returned after less than a day of deliberations on the federal tax evasion trial for former Hialeah Mayor Julio Robaina and his wife, Raiza, and said the couple were not guilty of any of the charges.
Really? Really?
How is it possible that the 12 jurors believed the Robainas forgot to claim up to $2 million on their taxes? How can that be when witness after witness got up on the stand and testified that the Robainas were charging 36 percent interest on a loan to Luis Felipe “Felipito” Perez and that Robaina was getting envelopes of cash delivered at his friend’s home and that they dealt with the former mayor, not his wife, as he claimed?
Current Mayor Carlos Hernandez even went on the stand and admitted that he, too, charged Perez 36 percent on two loans totaling $180,000.
Ladra can only come up with one reason: The jury couldn’t sympathize with the victim, a sleazy convicted Ponzi schemer who is serving 10 years for his fraudulent con.
TV reporters who got a chance to speak to some jurors off camera were told that they didn’t believe the witnesses, particularly Perez, and that prosecutors simply didn’t make their case.
So why didn’t they call the others that had gotten loans from both mayors. Why didn’t Luis Miramontes testify about his $65,000 loan from Robaina and how he was paying 20 percent interest? Is it because it was noit 36 percent?
Why didn’t Recaredo Gutierrez, who noted a $50,000 debt to Hernandez on his bankruptcy, called to testify? If only to establish that this was a booming business for the Hialeah hoodlums?
Because I think what happened was that the jury went away thinking Perez was the only one claiming he was charged illegal exorbitant fees. He’s not.
This should have been a slam dunk case against Robaina, who everyone knows not only charged illegal usury fees as the top loanshark at the 1st Hialeah Bank of Julito, but also failed to disclose it on his income tax forms. His attorney and his wife, the only one who took the stand, told the jury that it was simply an error, that they simply forgot to claim an $800,000 lobbying fee from a business partner for a project in Hialeah Gardens and another $300,000 from Roberto Viñas. By the way, Viñas testified that he didn’t remember what he paid Robaina $300K for.
You know, it slipped his mind.
And the jury bought all this?
Former Mayor Raul Martinez, who saw some of the trial, had been confident that the Robainas would see the inside of a cell. Even though he did say on TV Monday that “you never know what a jury is going to do.”
On Tuesday, he speculated that maybe the government bombarded them with too much information.
“There were a lot of photographs. A lot of checks,” Martinez told Ladra.
Outside the federal courthouse, Robaina crowed as his wife smiled from ear to ear.
“We told everyone from the beginning that we are going to vindicate our names. That the truth is the truth,” Roba-y-na’ had the gall to say, suggesting that he would uncover more details about the unjust trial against him in the near future.
“As the days move forward, we’ll get to that,” he said.
Ladra is still sorta reeling from this surprise decision. We thought he was going to be sharing a cell with former Sweetwater Mayor Manny “Maraña” Maroño. Instead, they’re probably roasting a pig in the back yard.
But stay tuned. I’m collecting reactions and asking for a sit-down with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to see if they can tell me where they think they went wrong.
But do you think that what he may announce in the coming days is another run for office, now that his name has been “vindicated?”
Who knows? Maybe he will file for Miami-Dade property appraiser. After all, he’s got real estate experience.
Not guilty: Julio Robaina can now run for office again added by Ladra on
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