Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 17, 2006 23:23:16 GMT -5
Rodriguez Trial Entering Final Stage
The trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is entering its final stage, and jurors
may begin deliberating this week over whether he should be the 1st person
sentenced to death in North Dakota in nearly 100 years.
The verdict by the federal court jury of seven women and five men must be
unanimous for Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, Minn., to be sentenced to death
instead of life in prison. He was convicted late last month of kidnapping
resulting in the death of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin.
"I think this part is much harder to predict than when he was found
guilty," said Joseph Daly, a Hamline University law professor who has
participated in death penalty cases and has been following the Rodriguez
case. "In North Dakota, jurors are not used to dealing with death penalty
cases."
North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal
cases. During a trip to Fargo last year, U.S. Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales said the government is justified in seeking capital punishment in
some cases in states that have outlawed the penalty.
"I believe the fact the state doesn't have the death penalty doesn't mean
that the people of the state would not impose the ultimate sanction when
the right circumstances dictate that that happen," Gonzales said.
Prosecutors point to the fact that jurors, in deciding earlier that
Rodriguez was eligible for the death penalty, found that Sjodin, 22, of
Pequot Lakes, Minn., was killed in an "especially heinous, cruel and
depraved manner."
Sjodin disappeared from a Grand Forks mall parking lot in November 2003.
Her body was found in a ravine near Crookston the following April.
Authorities said she had been beaten, raped and stabbed.
Defense attorneys say several factors favor a sentence of life in prison
for Rodriguez. They say he was sexually abused as a child and may have
suffered brain damage from farm chemicals, leading to psychological and
behavioral problems.
Rodriguez's attorneys are expected to wrap up their testimony on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said he believes jurors could began
deliberating his sentence by the middle of the week, after prosecutors
present rebuttal evidence.
Rodriguez's mother and two of his sisters testified last week about their
struggles as a poor migrant farm family, living in a house with no
electricity or running water. They said children teased Rodriguez about
his race and physical appearance.
"It's not so easy to put aside that kind of heartfelt feeling of a mother
and his background," Daly said Sunday. "I think it will have some effect
on the jurors ... and you only need to affect one juror."
Prosecutors say another factor favoring the death penalty is that jurors
found Rodriguez caused serious injury in three earlier assaults on women.
The government also believes that testimony by friends and family of
Sjodin in the last phase of the trial points to a death sentence.
Daly said he expects the case to be appealed, whether Rodriguez receives
the death penalty or life in prison. Death penalty appeals would be more
prolonged, Daly said.
"It's possible her parents will never see him executed," he said.
The trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. is entering its final stage, and jurors
may begin deliberating this week over whether he should be the 1st person
sentenced to death in North Dakota in nearly 100 years.
The verdict by the federal court jury of seven women and five men must be
unanimous for Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, Minn., to be sentenced to death
instead of life in prison. He was convicted late last month of kidnapping
resulting in the death of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin.
"I think this part is much harder to predict than when he was found
guilty," said Joseph Daly, a Hamline University law professor who has
participated in death penalty cases and has been following the Rodriguez
case. "In North Dakota, jurors are not used to dealing with death penalty
cases."
North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal
cases. During a trip to Fargo last year, U.S. Attorney General Alberto
Gonzales said the government is justified in seeking capital punishment in
some cases in states that have outlawed the penalty.
"I believe the fact the state doesn't have the death penalty doesn't mean
that the people of the state would not impose the ultimate sanction when
the right circumstances dictate that that happen," Gonzales said.
Prosecutors point to the fact that jurors, in deciding earlier that
Rodriguez was eligible for the death penalty, found that Sjodin, 22, of
Pequot Lakes, Minn., was killed in an "especially heinous, cruel and
depraved manner."
Sjodin disappeared from a Grand Forks mall parking lot in November 2003.
Her body was found in a ravine near Crookston the following April.
Authorities said she had been beaten, raped and stabbed.
Defense attorneys say several factors favor a sentence of life in prison
for Rodriguez. They say he was sexually abused as a child and may have
suffered brain damage from farm chemicals, leading to psychological and
behavioral problems.
Rodriguez's attorneys are expected to wrap up their testimony on Monday.
U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson said he believes jurors could began
deliberating his sentence by the middle of the week, after prosecutors
present rebuttal evidence.
Rodriguez's mother and two of his sisters testified last week about their
struggles as a poor migrant farm family, living in a house with no
electricity or running water. They said children teased Rodriguez about
his race and physical appearance.
"It's not so easy to put aside that kind of heartfelt feeling of a mother
and his background," Daly said Sunday. "I think it will have some effect
on the jurors ... and you only need to affect one juror."
Prosecutors say another factor favoring the death penalty is that jurors
found Rodriguez caused serious injury in three earlier assaults on women.
The government also believes that testimony by friends and family of
Sjodin in the last phase of the trial points to a death sentence.
Daly said he expects the case to be appealed, whether Rodriguez receives
the death penalty or life in prison. Death penalty appeals would be more
prolonged, Daly said.
"It's possible her parents will never see him executed," he said.