Opening arguments in retrial of Ann Marie Drago in death of anti-gang activist Evelyn Rodriguez set for Tuesday

Opening statements in the retrial of Ann Marie Drago, the Patchogue woman accused in the 2018 death of anti-gang activist Evelyn Rodriguez of Brentwood, are scheduled for Tuesday in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead.

Drago, 62, is charged with criminally negligent homicide, petit larceny and criminal mischief. She is going on trial for a second time after her previous conviction was overturned on appeal in 2022.

For the new trial, seven men and five women were selected to the jury last week. The final alternate jurors were selected last Tuesday afternoon, completing the selection process after two days, when more than 175 prospective jurors were summoned to the courthouse.

Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro will preside over the trial, which is expected to continue through next week.

Drago is accused of killing Rodriguez on Sept. 14, 2018, by driving over her on the same Brentwood street where the body of Rodriguez's daughter Kayla Cuevas was found. Cuevas was killed by MS-13 gang members two years earlier.

Ambro ruled at a hearing last week that autopsy photographs shown to the jury at Drago's first trial, which the defense called "particularly gruesome and graphic," would not be permitted this time. The judge said he agreed with the defense that the potential to prejudice the jury "far outweighs any probative value."

Ambro will, however, allow Drago's grand jury testimony to be read during trial with portions where prosecutors refer to Rodriguez as a "grieving mother" or Cuevas as her "murdered daughter" redacted.

One significant difference in this trial from the last is that all three attorneys will be new. Drago will be represented by Matthew Hereth, deputy criminal bureau chief with the Legal Aid Society of Suffolk County. Suffolk County Assistant District Attorneys Laura Newcombe and Emma Henry will try the case for District Attorney Ray Tierney.

Drago’s conviction was overturned in July 2022 when a state appeals court ruled a previous prosecutor, under then-District Attorney Timothy Sini, made improper comments during Drago's three-week trial before then-acting state Supreme Court Justice Fernando Camacho.

The four-judge panel of the Brooklyn-based New York Supreme Court Appellate Division said prosecutor Marc Lindemann, during his summation, “mischaracterized the evidence relating to the charge of criminally negligent homicide and confused the jury by repeatedly using language to suggest that the defendant’s conduct in striking Rodriguez with the vehicle was intentional or reckless."

The ruling added that the prosecutor, who is no longer with the district attorney's office, “continually evoked sympathy for Rodriguez by calling her a 'grieving mother' and referencing her 'murdered daughter.' The prosecutor also continually denigrated the defense, referring to defense theories, repeatedly, as 'excuses,' and also as 'garbage,' and he falsely and provocatively claimed that the 'defense repeatedly argued that the death of Kayla … was an inconvenience and a nuisance,’ ” the appellate court found.

Rodriguez’s daughter Kelsey Cuevas has expressed frustration that the case is back in court.

"I just felt like it was Sept. 14 all over again," Cuevas said after Drago's conviction was overturned. Members of the Rodriguez and Cuevas families could not be reached for comment for this story.

Rodriguez had set up the memorial in front of the home of Drago’s mother before a vigil that was planned to mark the two-year anniversary of the discovery of Kayla’s remains on the property.

Rodriguez, 50, suffered a fractured skull and brain injury less than 300 feet from that location in an encounter that News 12 Long Island recorded on video, a key piece of evidence that was played for the jury at the first trial and will be played again at the new trial.

At her previous sentencing, Drago, a nurse, said it was “an instinctive decision” that caused Rodriguez’s “very tragic and unnecessary" death. Her former attorney, Stephen Kunken, said Drago had feared for her life after Rodriguez and Freddy Cuevas, Rodriguez’s partner and Kayla’s father, ran up to her Nissan and shouted expletives while pointing at her. 

The fatal encounter happened on the second anniversary of the killings of Kayla, 16, and her 15-year-old friend Nisa Mickens, who federal prosecutors said had fallen victim to deadly violence from MS-13 gang members.

Rodriguez became known for her anti-gang work on the national stage. In the wake of her daughter's killing, she met with then-President Donald Trump and was a White House guest at his State of the Union address.

By Grant Parpan

grant.parpan@newsday.com@GrantParpan

Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.