Posted on 08/30/2006 2:22:01 PM PDT by Gumdrop
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was found guilty today of kidnapping 22-year-old Dru Sjodin from a Grand Forks, ND mall and causing her death in November 2003...
(Excerpt) Read more at StarTribune.com ...
Tell me this is a death penalty case.
It was tried in Federal Court (he took her across state lines).
Prosecutors will reportedly seek the death penalty.
Fry the bastard!
I can't believe this POS is still breathing.
It is.
The case was being tried in a North Dakota court.
Although ND doesn';t have the death penalty either, the prosecuttion is trying to seek the death penalty on federal laws.
They claim that Rodriguez kidnapped Dru Sjodin and took her across the state line (into Minnesota) before raping and killing her.
The jury that convicted him will now debate whether he gets the death penalty or not.
Get a rope.
Just doing the jobs Minnesotans won't do.
This was not his first offense. Those who are responsible for the fact that he was out of jail need to held accountable as well.
Booking photo, Broward County
More accurately it was tried in a Federal court in Fargo.
Yes, that is correct.
They do have a catch and release judicial system, which is why this re-offending POS was out to torture, rape, and murder this poor girl whose only offense was walking to her car after work.
EXCERPT
http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/15398473.htm
The jury still may have weeks of complicated sifting of testimony and evidence left to do, with possibly two more trial proceedings to sit through. It will be new ground for any jury in North Dakota and Minnesota, not only because it's a death penalty case, but because of the federal death penalty rules.
First, the jury will have to decide if this case and defendant fit the eligibility factors for a federal death penalty case. That determination will require arguments by lawyers and testimony of witnesses and a deliberation by the jury. The eligibility factors can include other crimes and the nature of the crime for which he was convicted.
If the jury were to find the eligibility factors were met, it would then begin sitting in a third phase of the trial: whether to sentence Rodriguez to life in prison without parole or death.
In that phase, again lawyers would make arguments, question witnesses and the jury would retire to deliberate.
The prosecution would have to prove one or more "aggravating factors" that argue for the death sentence. They could include facts about previous crimes, or facts about the crime Rodriguez stands charged with in this case. The defense would try to prove to the jury one or more "mitigating factors" that would argue for a life sentence, rather than death.
Defense attorney Richard Ney told many potential jurors during the five weeks of jury selection interviews that those factors could include such things as Rodriguez being the victim of childhood sexual abuse, the effect of "neurotoxins" apparently farm chemicals on his development, and his mental or psychological health.
Family members of Sjodin and Rodriguez are expected to testify during one or both of the two stages of the penalty phase of the trial, if needed. Expert witnesses, such as mental health experts, also are expected to testify.
The penalty phase could mean a week or two or more of trial. No one knows for sure.
As one court official said Wednesday, it would be "new ground" for not only the jury of seven women and five men, but for the attorneys, judge and court officers.
The only person involved in the trial with any experience in federal death penalty cases is Ney, the Wichita, Kan., veteran of defending such cases who was appointed by the court to assist attorney Robert Hoy of West Fargo.
Yes. I read somewhere it has been lots and lots of decades since the last DP in that state.
How my heart breaks for that family.
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