BY GAIL EPSTEIN NIEVES

 The scheduled sentencing of convicted Cuban spy master Gerardo Hernández was continued until today after hours of legal wrangling by the lawyers ate up more time than expected Tuesday.

 U.S. District Judge Joan Lenard told a packed courtroom of more than 100 spectators in downtown Miami that she will reconvene Hernández's hearing at 9 a.m. A second spy, Ramón Labañino, is scheduled to be sentenced separately this afternoon.

 Hernández, the most culpable of the five spies convicted after a six-month trial, is expected to address the court and ask for leniency, as is his mother, Carmen Nordelo.

 Also expected to address the judge: relatives of the four men who perished in the 1996 Brothers to the Rescue shoot-down by Cuban fighter jets. They will ask Lenard to mete out harsh punishments.

 Hernández faces two life sentences: one for murder conspiracy for participating in the planning of the Brothers shoot-down, and the second for espionage conspiracy.

 Espionage conspiracy prosecutions are not common -- the lawyers say there haven't been any others in the 11th U.S. Circuit, which includes Florida -- but under federal sentencing guidelines set by law, Hernández scores out for life.

 On Tuesday, Lenard ruled against the defense and upheld three recommendations made by Hernández's probation officer that enhanced the sanctions he faces.

 Labañino and spy Antonio Guerrero also face life sentences. The two other spies, René González and Fernando González, no relation, face lesser jail terms.

 But the mothers of four of the convicted men called their sons ``patriots'' and said the American justice system was flawed for allowing the trial to be held in Cuban
 exile-dominated South Florida.

 Nordelo, Hernández's mother, told The Associated Press that her son ``was not capable of doing anything to hurt the United States'' and that he ``was just trying to
 protect his country. He is not a criminal.''

 ``Our sons did nothing wrong,'' agreed 62-year-old Magali Llort, mother of Fernando González. ``They were defending their country from the Cuban Mafia here in Miami. They are patriots.''

 By design of the defense, the jury that convicted the men included no Cuban Americans.

 The women said their sons were battling terrorists waging war against their country.

                                    © 2001