Ex-commissioner sent to jail
Hernandez to serve 364 days for coverup in Miami vote fraud

By AMY DRISCOLL
Herald Staff Writer

Ousted Miami City Commissioner Humberto Hernandez received the maximum jail sentence Wednesday for his part in a vote-fraud conspiracy so widespread it stole a city election.

Hernandez, once a rising star of Miami politics, committed a crime so serious it ``strikes at the heart of our society'' and deserves nothing less than 364 days in jail, Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Roberto Pineiro said.

``Our elections must be free, fair and untainted by even the hint of fraud to ensure the continued existence of . . . democracy. You sought to destroy all that simply for your political advantage,'' the judge said, looking at a blue-suited Hernandez standing at the defense table. ``Your actions in participating in this coverup cannot be tolerated.''

Hernandez, a 36-year-old lawyer, swallowed hard but remained expressionless as Pineiro continued to read his order in the now-silent courtroom.

``You tried to mask the stench of a corrupt election by creating an even greater stink,'' Pineiro said, his face grim. ``You tried to deflect the focus of the vote-fraud investigation by playing what has come to be known as the `race card' -- claiming that you were targeted because of your ethnic background. Sadly, you were willing to polarize our community in order to save your political power. This is unconscionable.''

U.S. marshals immediately appeared on both sides of the ex-commissioner. Hernandez, who was smiling and laughing at the time of his arrest, looked solemn.

As they escorted him out of the room, Hernandez's wife -- two rows behind him -- collapsed onto the shoulder of a friend.

``Oh, no, oh, no!'' she wailed, her cries muffled as she buried her face in her hands. ``A whole year! Oh, my God. No, no.''

Prosecutors also said they are entitled to about $60,000 in investigative costs from Hernandez. A hearing on costs has been set for Sept. 4.

Convicted of misdemeanor

Hernandez was convicted Friday of a misdemeanor -- accessory after the fact, for coaching an illegal voter to cover up her crime. Many defendants convicted of nonviolent misdemeanors are not incarcerated, but the judge agreed with prosecutors that Hernandez's offense was serious enough to warrant the maximum. He said, ``I cannot conceive of a more felonious misdemeanor.''

Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle said the sentence was proof the community will not passively accept corruption. ``This crime helped cause the invalidation of a mayoral election which shattered the people's faith in the fairness of our elective process, and held the community up to national ridicule as hotbed of corruption,'' she said.

Hernandez's lawyer, Jose Quiñon, had pleaded for leniency, asking the judge to sentence his client to the time he had already served in jail -- 72 days -- and to withhold a finding of guilt.

``This man, Mr. Hernandez, did not, did not, did not commit vote fraud and that has been haunting him since Day One,'' Quiñon told the judge. ``That has been the inference that has been following him.''

Quiñon argued that Hernandez was surrounded by corruption but none of it reached the top. Hernandez was too busy campaigning door to door to know what his associates were doing, the lawyer said.

``You had a number of people involved in the campaign and some of them were overzealous and some of them went overboard,'' he said.

Maximum sentence urged

Prosecutor Joe Centorino urged the judge Wednesday to give Hernandez the maximum sentence. The former commissioner, he noted, has ``yet to express one sliver of remorse,'' and he used his public office to commit the crime.

``A substantial part of the conversations took place in his City Hall chambers . . . '' he said. ``It involved the power of his office.''

Centorino called the judge's attention to Hernandez's ``contemptible use of the media'' to play on ethnic tensions. In the past, Hernandez has gone on Spanish radio to fight his legal troubles, suggesting that he was targeted by anti-Cuban law enforcement agencies and the media.

In addition, Hernandez was caught on tape in a jail van saying he was convinced Hispanic jurors would be on his side.

``That opened a raw wound in the community,'' Centorino said.

Quiñon said his client took to the radio in defense. ``This man was embattled. This man was under siege by the media,'' he said, pointing to Hernandez. ``There was a highly coordinated campaign against Mr. Hernandez in the media -- and he reacted wrong.''

Most defendants convicted of a misdemeanor are sentenced to probation or jail time already served, Quiñon said. Incarceration is generally reserved for violent offenders or those with a previous record, he said. Hernandez has no previous record.

Friends' testimonials

Before the sentencing, the judge heard from nine of Hernandez's friends from his childhood and his commission days. Among the character witnesses: former Miami Commissioner Armando Lacasa and former Miami Mayor Maurice Ferre.

``I don't know anyone who worked harder to serve his constituents,'' Ferre told the judge.

However, he added: ``If he had been convicted of a felony, I don't think I would be standing here.''

He shook Hernandez's hand on the way out.

Witness Eloy Garcia, a city firefighter, grew up with Hernandez. ``Bert Hernandez is a good guy,'' he said. ``The family has suffered, his children are suffering.''

In the audience, Esther Hernandez -- mother of two girls -- began to cry.

But any hope of a light sentence died as Pineiro, who has been on the bench since 1989, read his ruling. Hernandez was immediately taken back into federal custody where he awaits his trial Sept. 8 in a mortgage fraud case.

`A sad thing'

Quiñon called the sentence ``a sad thing'' because it was the same sentence that could have been given if Hernandez had been convicted of all three charges. The lawyer said he plans to appeal.

Hernandez was convicted Friday after a weeklong trial on three charges: a felony count of fabricating evidence, one misdemeanor count of conspiracy to fabricate evidence and one misdemeanor count of accessory after the fact.

After 7 1/2 hours of deliberations, jurors acquitted the ex-commissioner on the felony charge and one misdemeanor. They convicted him of the second misdemeanor charge, accessory after the fact. The conviction meant jurors felt Hernandez knew about the vote fraud and assisted in covering it up.

In an investigation after the Nov. 4 Miami mayoral election, The Herald found hundreds of illegal votes, including 175 ballots cast by voters who did not live where they were registered or who lived outside the city, 105 ballots cast by convicted felons and 14 votes cast by city employees who lived outside the city.

Removed from seat

Hernandez was suspended from his seat on the commission when the vote-fraud charges were filed in May; he was removed from the seat Monday by Gov. Lawton Chiles after the conviction.

Hernandez is the first public official to be convicted in the conspiracy. Fifteen people have been arrested as a result of the investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Miami-Dade state attorney's office. At one point, 92 investigators and agents worked on the case.

During Hernandez's trial, a team of five prosecutors sought to portray Hernandez as the highest-ranking member of a corrupt organization that bought votes with influence and blamed prejudice against Cuban Americans when investigators closed in.

The key witness against Hernandez was his former City Hall secretary, Evelyn Herbello. She turned state's evidence after she and her husband, a Miami Police sergeant, were named by The Herald as filing fraudulent absentee ballots.

Herbello wore a body wire for about two months, secretly taping conversations in City Hall and other locales among Hernandez and his associates. Jurors heard excerpts from the tapes, which likely will be used in the prosecution of at least eight others still facing vote fraud-related charges, including Hernandez's father, Humberto Hernandez Sr., and his chief of staff, Jorge De Goti.

Herald staff writer Joseph Tanfani contributed to this report.