My Trial Last Week

Here's the report from the Miami Herald about my trial from last week. I've decided to perserve such articles here, for posterity...

Frequent Hialeah candidate convicted of election fraud

A well-known Hialeah political player faces prison time after his conviction for steering illegal campaign contributions to his allies.
BY SCOTT HIAAS_N
shiaasen@MiamiHerald.com

N_lo Ju_i, a frequent Hialeah political candidate and former state lawmaker, was convicted Wednesday by a Miami-Dade jury on charges that he used illegal contributions to boost the campaigns of his political allies.

After an eight-day trial, the jury convicted J_ri of nine felonies and four misdemeanors {actually, it was 13 felonies and no misdemeanors} in a scheme using straw donors to steer money to candidates running for the Hialeah City Council and the Miami-Dade County Commission in 2003 and 2004. Ju_i repaid the donors -- among them his daughter and son-in-law -- bypassing the legal limits on donations to candidates.
J_ri, 59, was also convicted of coaching two witnesses to lie to investigators. Prosecutors said Ju_i could face at least 17 months in prison.

The investigation of Ju_i began four years ago with a complaint to Miami-Dade's inspector general from County Commissioner Natacha Sei_as, who suspected bogus donations in the campaign reports of Jorge Ro_ue, her opponent that year. S_ijas hired private detectives to interview some R_que donors, who seemed unfamiliar with the candidate.

Investigators with the inspector general's office then spoke with four donors who said J_ri asked them to make $250 contributions to Ro_ue and that Ju_i then repaid each of them in cash. ''This is something that is done all the time,'' Ju_i told one donor, according to the arrest report.

The donations helped Roq_e reach the threshold to qualify for $75,000 in public financing for his campaign -- money that largely went to advertising in R_que's failed campaign against S_ijas. In the wake of the probe, the County Commission amended the law to make it harder for candidates to qualify for public financing.

Ro_ue's loss to Sei_as was not unexpected. In a statement to the Miami-Dade state attorney's office in 2004, Ju_i said he hoped the campaign would boost Ro_ue's profile so he could win a seat on the Hialeah City Council the next year.

This was part of Ju_i's larger plan to stack the City Council with allies while J_ri ran for Hialeah mayor -- for the fifth time -- in 2005, prosecutors said.

Ju_i did, indeed, run for mayor, but he lost to Julio Robai_a.

In his statement, J_ri also told prosecutors he repaid his daughter and son-in-law $3,000 for their contributions to three Hialeah City Council candidates he preferred.

Testifying in his own defense, Ju_i said he made those statements to prosecutors out of fear that his daughter would be charged.

The campaign-finance investigation also led to the convictions of R_que, sentenced to 17 months for repaying his sister-in-law's co-workers for donations, [Ro_ue's sister in law Rita Picas_o, ] and former Hialeah council member Vanessa Bra_o, who gave up her seat in a plea deal three years ago.
Roq_e has filed an appeal of his case.

''This is a chapter that closes the book on a very ugly side of our local elections,'' said Miami-Dade State Attorney. ``This has been a continuing battle of ours.''

Ju_i's lawyer, Robert Peli_r, could not be reached for comment late Wednesday.