150-year sentence sought
for ‘Hawaii’s most
dangerous’ man

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

Wallace "Dido" Rodrigues would be 84 before he can ask the Paroling Authority to reduce his prison term, if prosecutors have their way.

Prosecutors are asking that "Hawaii's most dangerous" man be ordered to serve 150 years in prison for his history of violence and criminal experience.

If the request is granted, Rodrigues, 34, would have to serve a third of that -- 50 years -- before he can ask for a reduction.

Rodrigues yesterday appeared before the Paroling Authority, which will decide in a couple weeks how much time he will be required to serve for his May conviction in the 1990 drug-related slaying of Leo Tuaoa.

Prosecutors sought the lengthy term based on Rodrigues' history of killing people, use of firearms, force and intimidation to get what he wants, his ability to influence others to act on his behalf, and his experience in running a criminal organization from his association with Charlie Stevens' drug organization.

"He's lived a life of crime basically his entire adult life," said Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter, who argued that Rodrigues is a danger to the community. "This person wouldn't hesitate to kill again if he got out."

Rodrigues is in prison for manslaughter in the 1995 killing of Wayne Pemberton, who was shot in the head at point-blank range. He killed Pemberton just a year after he had been paroled for the second time, Van Marter said.

In addition, Rodrigues faces trials in the January and July murders of Lorenzo Young in 1988 and William "Willy" Lau in October 1990. Lau was a witness to the Tuaoa murder and was killed because he was talking, prosecutors said.

Tuaoa was the victim of a "premeditated planned murder" in which he was lured to a Makaha home, outnumbered by six to one and interrogated for an hour at gunpoint about a drug theft involving Charlie Stevens, Van Marter said.

Rodrigues also has convictions for firearms-related violations, reckless endangering and robbing a tourist in Waikiki. He has a long history of "strong-arm" robberies, extortion and drug trafficking in connection with the Stevens' organization, Van Marter said.

Rodrigues also is considered a security risk at Halawa prison after he was identified as instigating or participating in numerous inmate assaults.

Parole board member Lani Garcia chastised Rodrigues, who appeared via closed-circuit video from Halawa, for the "spread of fear, intimidation and death" he has caused.

"Mr. Rodrigues, you are a cancer to our community," Garcia said, noting that the parole board "has the power to stop the spread of infection."

Rodrigues' attorney, David Klein, said threats attributed to Rodrigues are "speculative" and his client has never been charged in connection with those allegations.

Van Marter earlier told board members that it was no coincidence that at least two witnesses who were to testify against Rodrigues were threatened.

One month before trial, the home of the wife and children of one prosecution witness was the target of a drive-by shooting. And on the day Rodrigues' trial began, the girlfriend of another prosecution witness present during Tuaoa's killing was warned she would be killed if her boyfriend testified.