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September 2, 2010 |
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| January 05, 2007 |
By: Julie Kay |
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Susan Dmitrovsky
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everal major league baseball players could take the witness stand when the alien smuggling trial of prominent sports agent Gustavo “Gus” Dominguez and several co-defendants begins Jan. 16 in U.S. District Court in Key West.
Federal prosecutors have indicated they will call Seattle Mariners shortstop Yuniesky Betancourt and Chicago Cubs catcher Henry Blanco to testify, according to Miami attorney Susan Dmitrovsky, who represents Dominguez.
However, the government may have some difficulty in getting the players to testify as many players, including Blanco, are out of the country playing winter ball in South America, Dmitrovsky said.
In a case that has rocked the sporting world, Dominguez, a prominent, California-based sports agent, and five other defendants were charged in October with smuggling players into the United States from Cuba.
Prosecutors allege the men conspired in 2003 and 2004 to bring Cuban ballplayers into Florida aboard dangerous “fast boats,” transport them to California, set them up in apartments, train them and represent them in lucrative free agent deals with major league ball clubs. Betancourt and Zaydel Beltran, a minor league player for the New York Yankees, are two of the ballplayers prosecutors allege Dominguez smuggled into the country.
Dominguez served as Blanco’s agent. Prosecutors allege his bank accounts were used for some payments to the smuggled ballplayers, according to Dmitrovsky.
Dominguez has pleaded not guilty to the 53 counts against him. Co-defendants Geoffrey Rodrigues, Robert Yosvany Hernandez and Guillermo Valdez have also pleaded not guilty. Defendant Ramon Batista pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy.
While talks about a possible plea deal with Dominguez are under way, the trial will likely go forward, defense attorneys say.
“We’re gearing up for trial,” Dmitrovsky said, adding that she has already booked her hotel rooms in Key West for the expected one- to two-week trial.
Both the government and the defense filed motions for continuance.
U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore denied both motions. However, Moore did move the trial, originally schedule to begin Jan. 8, to Jan. 16. According to sources who did not want to be identified, Moore did so because Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Daniel is ill with kidney stones.
Neither Daniel nor Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell, Daniel’s co-counsel on the case, returned calls for comment.
Since the government submitted its 404(B) filing — a document that laid out new allegations against Dominguez and his co-defendants — in mid-December, defense lawyers have been scrambling to investigate the charges.
The government alleged that Betancourt and Beltran, along with other Cuban nationals, were smuggled into the U.S. on Dec. 4, 2003, and taken to Los Angeles.
Prosecutors also allege that Dominguez later sent a letter to Major League Baseball officials that included false Mexican passports ostensibly issued to Betancourt and Beltran. Six weeks later, based on Betancourt’s Mexican passport and free-agent status, the Seattle Mariners sent a letter of agreement to Dominguez that included a promise of a $1.5 million signing bonus.
The court papers also alleged that co-defendant Hernandez smuggled the wife and daughters of Chicago White Sox pitcher Jose Contreras into the country, and that Hernandez was taped by a cooperating witness admitting doing so.
Prosecutors are not alleging that Contreras, who earned $9.6 million in 2006, was smuggled into the country. He is not expected to testify at the trial.
In court papers seeking a continuance, defense lawyers stated they planned to fight the admissibility of the fresh allegations contained in the government’s 404(B) filing.
Dmitrovsky and co-counsel J. Stephen Salter of Birmingham, Ala., said the case is complicated enough to warrant a continuance.
“But the inclusion of uncharged and late disclosed Rule 404(B) evidence unfairly enhances the government’s ability to prevail at trial by ambush,” they said.
Federal prosecutors requested a continuance for two reasons.
First, they stated that a key government witness is out of the country but will be back in February for spring training. Second, prosecutors said that based on new information presented in their 404(B), they may present a superseding indictment to grand jurors in Key West, who will be in session today.
Julie Kay can be reached at jkay@alm.com or at (954) 468-2622.
Susan Dmitrovsky photo by A.M. Holt
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