Tell me this is a death penalty case.
Fry the bastard!
I can't believe this POS is still breathing.
Get a rope.
Booking photo, Broward County
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.