Posted on 09/22/2006 10:11:07 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
FARGO, N.D. - Jurors on Friday sentenced a convicted sex offender to death for kidnapping and killing University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, whose body was found in a Minnesota ravine nearly five months after she disappeared.
It was North Dakota's first death penalty case in more than a century. The state does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal cases.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., 53, of Crookston, Minn., looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was announced.
The jury reached its decision after more than a day and a half of deliberations. The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez on Aug. 30 on a charge of kidnapping resulting in Sjodin's death.
Rodriguez's mother, Dolores, and sister, Ileanna Noyes, cried as the verdict was announced, as did a number of the jurors. Members of Sjodin's family looked somber and stared straight ahead. They shared hugs outside the courtroom.
Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall parking lot on Nov. 22, 2003, and her body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and stabbed.
Rodriguez, who got out of prison about six months before the killing, was charged under federal law because Sjodin was taken across state lines.
U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley, in his statements to jurors, said the death penalty would be the "right thing, in the right case." He stood near her portrait and asked for justice.
Rodriguez's attorney, Richard Ney, asked the jury for mercy after calling psychologists and Rodriguez's family to talk about his childhood of poverty, abuse and exposure to farm chemicals. Ney also said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on three women in 1975 and 1980.
Justice finally. I am on the victims side - ALWAYS - to them, I hope they find some peace.
To SeNor Rodriguez, espero le guste el Infierno!
I'm very comfortable with the fact that you sir are in the DISTINCT MINORITY. I think that probably makes you bitter, whic h is why I see you lashing out in so many threads against people who want our laws enforced.
"If you plan on arguing that the penalty should be less severe because he's a legal resident, be my guest."
Not me!
I simply DARE to ask the question is this one LEGAL or ILLEGAL? If he is ILLEGAL, shame on US. They should have deported him for his FIRST crime wave.
Where did the article mention Tom Tancredo?
Little late to the party ... .
I see you stumbled on THIS Free Republic website on
steel_resolve
Since Oct 5, 2004
Well, at least you found it!
He was born in this country.
"Ney asked the jury for mercy after calling psychologists and Rodriguez's family to talk about his childhood of poverty, abuse and exposure to farm chemicals. Ney also said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on three women in 1975 and 1980."
Poverty, farm chemicals, anxiousness.
All ingrediants for a sexual, murdering, perv. who woulda thunk it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.