One of the boleteros nabbed last year in a series of politically-connected absentee ballot arrests is set to be in court today.
Or is Tio Sergio Robaina, uncle of former and indicted Hialeah mayor Julio Robaina, going to escape the limelight of the courtroom again and further prolong answering questions?
There was a motion filed July 26 to reset the 9 a.m. Monday hearing for Robaina’s election fraud charges and word is the request came from his attorney, Thomas Cobitz, who is not available for it.
Actually, Cobitz — partners with Julio Robaina’s attorney, John Rodriguez — hasn’t been available since Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Milton Hirsch rebuffed his attempts to throw the charges out because Broward and other counties have different rules about ABs than we do.
So if it is postponed again, this would be at least the second time that the hearing is rescheduled. This hearing today is the one reset in June.
Robaina, 75, was arrested almost a year ago, on Aug. 10, 2012, and charged with two felony counts of ballot tampering and two counts of violating a new Miami-Dade County ordinance which makes it illegal to carry more than two ABs at any time. He had allegedly delivered dozens of absentee ballots to Anamary Pedrosa, a former aide to Miami-Dade Commissioner Esteban Bovo.
Pedrosa resigned shortly after she was caught shuttling 164 ballots from the commissioner’s district office to the post office and Bovo — who was pushing hard for State Rep. Manny Diaz, Jr., who ultimately won over former School Board Member Renier Diaz de la Portilla — said he had no idea his staffer was doing that, even though he had paid her before to work on his campaigns.
But we’ll never get to see Pedrosa at her own hearing. See? She was never charged and, reportedly, was given immunity — a young hysterical girl who thought her future was over — in some alleged deal where she would, hopefully, cooperate.
Maybe she will testify — and they should call her, even as a hostile witness — at the Robaina hearing.
That is, if there is ever one.