Mayor Jose Rodriguez
By Eliot Kleinberg
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH —
A judge Thursday refused to delay the corruption trial of suspended Boynton Beach Mayor José Rodriguez, set to start in two weeks.
Rodriguez’ lawyers had filed Tuesday with the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, arguing a circuit judge doesn’t have the right to rule on a county ordinance.
They want the appeals court to order Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles E. Burton to dismiss what was the first charge ever filed against someone under Palm Beach County’s year-old ethics ordinance.
Rodriguez, 50, was suspended from office Jan. 27, one day after his arrest on charges he pressured the city’s police chief and interim manager to stop an investigation into allegations he abused his then-11-year-old stepdaughter. Investigators declared the allegations unfounded, but Rodriguez was charged with misusing his power as mayor.
On Oct. 2, Burton had thrown out one of four corruption counts. It alleged Rodriguez resisted, obstructed or opposed a law-enforcement officer.
But Burton had refused to dismiss the other three counts, including the one that accuses Rodriguez of breaking the county ethics ordinance’s ban on “corrupt misuse of official position.” Rodriguez’s lawyers have challenged the ethics ordinance as unconstitutionally vague.
In motions to the appeals court, lawyers for Rodriguez argued the county ordinance punishes the same conduct as the state statute, which they said is a civil infraction and not a crime. They had asked the appeals court to “stay all proceedings in the trial court” while it considers the motion and also had asked Burton to delay the case.
Rodriguez’ trial was originally set for July, then delayed to this month. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Oct. 25.
On Thursday, Rodriguez lawyer Jason Weiss — Rodriguez did not attend the hearing — told Burton he worried the appeal court would rule during proceedings; “I don’t want to stop on the second day of the trial if there’s an order,” he said.
Assistant State Attorney Daniel Funk, the prosecutor in the case, said, “We’re ready to go to trial.”
Burton asked if the two would consider separating the one count and proceeding with the rest. Weiss said yes; Funk said no.
Burton then denied the motion to delay the trial, saying, “If the Fourth tells me I can’t hear it, I won’t hear it. But until they rule … ”
Rodriguez also was arrested July 16 in a separate case in which prosecutors charged he defrauded a bank when he did a “short sale” of a Palm Beach condominium but actually sold it to a relative and, in effect, back to himself.
Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Rodriguez’s estranged wife, Sarah Marquez, filed divorce papers Wednesday in Phoenix. It’s her third divorce filing since the two were married in February 2010 in Palm Beach County.
She first filed for divorce in August 2010, and that case was closed in July 2011. She then filed again Oct. 11, 2011, but withdrew that filing Jan. 12, about two weeks before Rodriguez’ first arrest. Rodriguez asked a judge to let the divorce proceed, but the judge declined.
It was Marquez’ Aug. 4, 2011, interview with Boynton Beach police that ultimately led to Rodriguez’ arrest on the corruption charges.
“The actions of the BBPD (Boynton Beach Police Department) have devastated our family and our marriage,” Rodriguez said Thursday evening in an email. “This is something that we have been discussing for some time and so now we are moving forward to begin the healing process.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/judge-refuses-to-delay-corruption-trial-of-suspend/nSZrC/
Monday, April 15, 2013
Vanessa Kachadurian, more on corruption of public officials Mayor of West Palm Beach, Florida
Mayor Jose Rodriguez
By Eliot Kleinberg
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
WEST PALM BEACH —
A judge Thursday refused to delay the corruption trial of suspended Boynton Beach Mayor José Rodriguez, set to start in two weeks.
Rodriguez’ lawyers had filed Tuesday with the Fourth District Court of Appeal in West Palm Beach, arguing a circuit judge doesn’t have the right to rule on a county ordinance.
They want the appeals court to order Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Charles E. Burton to dismiss what was the first charge ever filed against someone under Palm Beach County’s year-old ethics ordinance.
Rodriguez, 50, was suspended from office Jan. 27, one day after his arrest on charges he pressured the city’s police chief and interim manager to stop an investigation into allegations he abused his then-11-year-old stepdaughter. Investigators declared the allegations unfounded, but Rodriguez was charged with misusing his power as mayor.
On Oct. 2, Burton had thrown out one of four corruption counts. It alleged Rodriguez resisted, obstructed or opposed a law-enforcement officer.
But Burton had refused to dismiss the other three counts, including the one that accuses Rodriguez of breaking the county ethics ordinance’s ban on “corrupt misuse of official position.” Rodriguez’s lawyers have challenged the ethics ordinance as unconstitutionally vague.
In motions to the appeals court, lawyers for Rodriguez argued the county ordinance punishes the same conduct as the state statute, which they said is a civil infraction and not a crime. They had asked the appeals court to “stay all proceedings in the trial court” while it considers the motion and also had asked Burton to delay the case.
Rodriguez’ trial was originally set for July, then delayed to this month. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Oct. 25.
On Thursday, Rodriguez lawyer Jason Weiss — Rodriguez did not attend the hearing — told Burton he worried the appeal court would rule during proceedings; “I don’t want to stop on the second day of the trial if there’s an order,” he said.
Assistant State Attorney Daniel Funk, the prosecutor in the case, said, “We’re ready to go to trial.”
Burton asked if the two would consider separating the one count and proceeding with the rest. Weiss said yes; Funk said no.
Burton then denied the motion to delay the trial, saying, “If the Fourth tells me I can’t hear it, I won’t hear it. But until they rule … ”
Rodriguez also was arrested July 16 in a separate case in which prosecutors charged he defrauded a bank when he did a “short sale” of a Palm Beach condominium but actually sold it to a relative and, in effect, back to himself.
Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Rodriguez’s estranged wife, Sarah Marquez, filed divorce papers Wednesday in Phoenix. It’s her third divorce filing since the two were married in February 2010 in Palm Beach County.
She first filed for divorce in August 2010, and that case was closed in July 2011. She then filed again Oct. 11, 2011, but withdrew that filing Jan. 12, about two weeks before Rodriguez’ first arrest. Rodriguez asked a judge to let the divorce proceed, but the judge declined.
It was Marquez’ Aug. 4, 2011, interview with Boynton Beach police that ultimately led to Rodriguez’ arrest on the corruption charges.
“The actions of the BBPD (Boynton Beach Police Department) have devastated our family and our marriage,” Rodriguez said Thursday evening in an email. “This is something that we have been discussing for some time and so now we are moving forward to begin the healing process.”
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/news/local-govt-politics/judge-refuses-to-delay-corruption-trial-of-suspend/nSZrC/
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