Man gets death in N.D. student's killing - Dru Sjodin

AP on Yahoo ^ | 9/22/06 | Dave Kolpack - ap

[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.

[wideawake]

He's 53. He'll probably die of natural causes before they can put him down.

But it's a nice gesture all the same.

[Millee]

Good, do it today.

[nmh]

"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."

Really! Poverty = crime? LOL!
WHO was doing the abuse? Why wasn't it stopped IF they cared about their son?
"Exposure to farm chemicals" doesn't make them a murdering sexual predator. Ask any farmer that.

"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."

So "anxious" he went out and did it AGAIN!
He learned NOTHING at tax payer expense.

BTW, is Rodriguez LEGAL?

[monday]

He should be sentenced to be raped and beaten every day for the rest of his life.

[Youngman442002]

anyone know if he is an illegal

[stm]

"git a rope"

[mtbopfuyn]

psychologists and Rodriguez's family to talk about his childhood of poverty, abuse and exposure to farm chemicals

I'm running out of tissues crying over all these sob stories today.

[nmh]

"anyone know if he is an illegal"

Watch out for the pc police at FR.

It's almost a CRIME to ask if a criminal, named Rodriguez is a LEGAL resident.

[from occupied ga]

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

Yep, anxious to get back to raping and murdering again.

[twigs]

exposure to farm chemicals

You've got to be kidding. The owner of my company was born on a farm and seems to have every type of allergy a person can have. He says that his allergies as a kid never got him out of his chores. He did not turn out to be a rapist and murderer.

[golfisnr1]

Can I pull the switch?

[steel_resolve]

You know, I don't know what free republic site you're surfing, but except for dolts like Dane and MNJohnnie, the majority of people on here do not take kindly to illegal immigration.

[Young Werther]

I don't believe NoDak has the resources and will probably sub-contract the final solution.

Maybe we could form a Subchapter S Corp and bid on the contract to house and carry out the sentence.

[cgk]

DRU SJODIN.

When the execution has been carried out, she will have justice.

[CurlyQ]

Attention: Bianca Jagger, Ed Asner, Mike Farrell, Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Jesse Jackson You got a another murderer to make a hero out of.

[Joe 6-pack]

"...and exposure to farm chemicals."

My heart goes out to him as well...Since he's a farm boy, it would only be right to gather four draft horses and have him drawn and quartered.

[1rudeboy]

If you plan on arguing that the penalty should be less severe because he's a legal resident, be my guest.

[COEXERJ145]

You're going to be disappointed that he is an American citizen.

Kind of shatters your beliefs that the United States would be 100% crime free if there weren't any illegals.

[BeHoldAPaleHorse]

If you plan on arguing that the penalty should be less severe because he's a legal resident, be my guest.

That left a mark.