Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 6, 2006 13:26:39 GMT -5
Victims take stand in penalty phase
Prosecutors seeking Rodriguez execution
BY SHANNON PRATHER
Pioneer Press
It's been 32 years since Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. forced an 18-year-old woman into her truck, made her drive down an isolated road and raped her.
Unlike college student Dru Sjodin, the high school senior escaped with her life. But the terror of that night in November 1974 still seeps into her thoughts and actions, the woman told a jury Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Fargo, N.D.
Rodriguez's victim described years of insomnia, depression, anxiety attacks, failed marriages and a recent episode where she locked her doors and retreated to her bedroom in a panic.
"I bolted my bedroom door with furniture. That was two days ago," she testified, fighting back tears.
Federal prosecutors called two of Rodriguez's previous victims to the stand during a proceeding to determine whether jurors should consider the death penalty for his kidnapping and killing of Sjodin in November 2003.
The jury convicted Rodriguez on Aug. 30 of kidnapping Sjodin resulting in her death. Prosecutors are trying to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating factors exist that make Rodriguez, 53, eligible for the death penalty. Among the factors are premeditation, his criminal past and the crime's cruelty.
The jury could start deliberating on the question of death penalty eligibility as early as today. If they find at least one aggravating factor, the trial proceeds to the penalty phase, in which jurors will choose between life in prison without parole or the death penalty. If the jury finds no aggravating factors, Rodriguez will spend life in prison.
Rodriguez's defense attorney told jurors the evidence doesn't support the aggravating factors but made clear that even if Rodriguez weren't eligible for the death penalty, he would not go unpunished.
"Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. will die in prison. You've already decided that," defense attorney Richard Ney said.
The federal prosecutor said he could show Rodriguez committed four aggravating factors making the rapist, kidnapper and killer eligible for the death penalty.
"The evidence in this case is so overwhelming," said Drew Wrigley, U.S. attorney for the state of North Dakota. "Apply your common sense to what you already know and what you'll learn today."
Rodriguez kidnapped Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., from a Grand Forks, N.D., mall parking lot Nov. 22, 2003. A searcher discovered her body in April 2004 near Crookston, Minn., Rodriguez's hometown.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson on Tuesday was considering how to deal with demonstrators after one showed up outside the courthouse carrying a sign that said in part: "Reap what you sow jury pool."
Ney said he spotted the man outside the front door of the courthouse Tuesday morning and called security. Officers chased him off the courthouse block, and he moved across the street.
Erickson said he had to balance the man's First Amendment rights with the possibility he would interfere with the jury.
Also Tuesday, a Minnesota court denied Rodriguez's bid to revisit his conviction in a 1980 sexual assault of a Crookston woman. The state Court of Appeals ruled that Rodriguez had exhausted his appeal in that case.
Before Rodriguez's trial, his attorneys argued that the 1980 conviction shouldn't be used against him because the woman identified him as her attacker only after she was hypnotized.
His previous appeal in the case, in 1982, was also turned back.
"This court will not disturb the decision of a post-conviction court absent an abuse of discretion," Judge Edward Parker wrote for the three-judge appeals panel.
Rodriguez served 23 years in prison for that offense. He was released in May 2003 and was arrested that December in the disappearance of Sjodin.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Shannon Prather can be reached at sprather@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5452
Prosecutors seeking Rodriguez execution
BY SHANNON PRATHER
Pioneer Press
It's been 32 years since Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. forced an 18-year-old woman into her truck, made her drive down an isolated road and raped her.
Unlike college student Dru Sjodin, the high school senior escaped with her life. But the terror of that night in November 1974 still seeps into her thoughts and actions, the woman told a jury Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Fargo, N.D.
Rodriguez's victim described years of insomnia, depression, anxiety attacks, failed marriages and a recent episode where she locked her doors and retreated to her bedroom in a panic.
"I bolted my bedroom door with furniture. That was two days ago," she testified, fighting back tears.
Federal prosecutors called two of Rodriguez's previous victims to the stand during a proceeding to determine whether jurors should consider the death penalty for his kidnapping and killing of Sjodin in November 2003.
The jury convicted Rodriguez on Aug. 30 of kidnapping Sjodin resulting in her death. Prosecutors are trying to convince jurors beyond a reasonable doubt that aggravating factors exist that make Rodriguez, 53, eligible for the death penalty. Among the factors are premeditation, his criminal past and the crime's cruelty.
The jury could start deliberating on the question of death penalty eligibility as early as today. If they find at least one aggravating factor, the trial proceeds to the penalty phase, in which jurors will choose between life in prison without parole or the death penalty. If the jury finds no aggravating factors, Rodriguez will spend life in prison.
Rodriguez's defense attorney told jurors the evidence doesn't support the aggravating factors but made clear that even if Rodriguez weren't eligible for the death penalty, he would not go unpunished.
"Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. will die in prison. You've already decided that," defense attorney Richard Ney said.
The federal prosecutor said he could show Rodriguez committed four aggravating factors making the rapist, kidnapper and killer eligible for the death penalty.
"The evidence in this case is so overwhelming," said Drew Wrigley, U.S. attorney for the state of North Dakota. "Apply your common sense to what you already know and what you'll learn today."
Rodriguez kidnapped Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn., from a Grand Forks, N.D., mall parking lot Nov. 22, 2003. A searcher discovered her body in April 2004 near Crookston, Minn., Rodriguez's hometown.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson on Tuesday was considering how to deal with demonstrators after one showed up outside the courthouse carrying a sign that said in part: "Reap what you sow jury pool."
Ney said he spotted the man outside the front door of the courthouse Tuesday morning and called security. Officers chased him off the courthouse block, and he moved across the street.
Erickson said he had to balance the man's First Amendment rights with the possibility he would interfere with the jury.
Also Tuesday, a Minnesota court denied Rodriguez's bid to revisit his conviction in a 1980 sexual assault of a Crookston woman. The state Court of Appeals ruled that Rodriguez had exhausted his appeal in that case.
Before Rodriguez's trial, his attorneys argued that the 1980 conviction shouldn't be used against him because the woman identified him as her attacker only after she was hypnotized.
His previous appeal in the case, in 1982, was also turned back.
"This court will not disturb the decision of a post-conviction court absent an abuse of discretion," Judge Edward Parker wrote for the three-judge appeals panel.
Rodriguez served 23 years in prison for that offense. He was released in May 2003 and was arrested that December in the disappearance of Sjodin.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Shannon Prather can be reached at sprather@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5452