Post by Anja Nieser on Sept 26, 2006 15:20:13 GMT -5
federal death sentence given
Dru Sjodin's Killer Gets Death Penalty----Dru Was On Phone With Boyfriend
When Abducted
in Fargo, jurors have sentenced convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez
Jr. to death for the killing of college student Dru Sjodin.
The decision was announced after jurors met for about an hour and a half
Friday morning. Jurors began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon.
Rodriguez looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was
announced late Friday morning in federal court. His mother, Dolores, and
sister, Ileanna Noyes cried, as did a number of the jurors.
Members of Sjodin's family looked somber and stared straight ahead. They
shared hugs outside the courtroom.
The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez, 53, last month of kidnapping
resulting in Sjodin's death.
The 22-year-old University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes,
Minn., disappeared from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall parking lot in
November 2003.
Sjodin's boss told jurors that Dru finished her work shift at Victoria's
Secret at the mall at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, according to the
St. Paul Pioneer Press. A store clerk at Marshal Fields said Sjodin bought
a purse at 5 p.m. and walked back into the common mall area.
Sjodin's boyfriend Chris Lang testified that Dru had called him at 5 p.m.
to talk about her new purse, the Pioneer Press reported. He then said that
4 minutes into the conversation, he heard Sjodin utter, "OK, OK," before
the line went dead.
Lang said that at first, he just figured the call had been cut off. But he
tried to call her several times and got no answer. Sjodin then did not
show up for work, so her roommate called the police.
The police then found Sjodin's car in the mall parking lot that night, the
Pioneer Press reported. Her wallet, drivers license, student
identification, shopping bag and new purse were found in the car. But
lying next to the car was a knife sheath, the paper reported.
Sjodin's body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston, in
northwestern Minnesota. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and
stabbed. Her hands were tied behind her back and her throat was cut, The
Pioneer Press reported.
Prosecutors had called for jurors to sentence Rodriguez to death. Defense
attorneys had called for a sentence of life in prison, arguing that
Rodriguez was sexually abused as a child and has brain damage from
exposure to farm chemicals.
The defense said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from
prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on 3 women in 1975
and 1980.
It's North Dakota's 1st death-penalty case in nearly 100 years.
North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal
cases.
(source: TheMilwaukeeChannel.com)
Dru Sjodin's Killer Gets Death Penalty----Dru Was On Phone With Boyfriend
When Abducted
in Fargo, jurors have sentenced convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez
Jr. to death for the killing of college student Dru Sjodin.
The decision was announced after jurors met for about an hour and a half
Friday morning. Jurors began deliberations on Wednesday afternoon.
Rodriguez looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was
announced late Friday morning in federal court. His mother, Dolores, and
sister, Ileanna Noyes cried, as did a number of the jurors.
Members of Sjodin's family looked somber and stared straight ahead. They
shared hugs outside the courtroom.
The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez, 53, last month of kidnapping
resulting in Sjodin's death.
The 22-year-old University of North Dakota student from Pequot Lakes,
Minn., disappeared from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall parking lot in
November 2003.
Sjodin's boss told jurors that Dru finished her work shift at Victoria's
Secret at the mall at 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003, according to the
St. Paul Pioneer Press. A store clerk at Marshal Fields said Sjodin bought
a purse at 5 p.m. and walked back into the common mall area.
Sjodin's boyfriend Chris Lang testified that Dru had called him at 5 p.m.
to talk about her new purse, the Pioneer Press reported. He then said that
4 minutes into the conversation, he heard Sjodin utter, "OK, OK," before
the line went dead.
Lang said that at first, he just figured the call had been cut off. But he
tried to call her several times and got no answer. Sjodin then did not
show up for work, so her roommate called the police.
The police then found Sjodin's car in the mall parking lot that night, the
Pioneer Press reported. Her wallet, drivers license, student
identification, shopping bag and new purse were found in the car. But
lying next to the car was a knife sheath, the paper reported.
Sjodin's body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston, in
northwestern Minnesota. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and
stabbed. Her hands were tied behind her back and her throat was cut, The
Pioneer Press reported.
Prosecutors had called for jurors to sentence Rodriguez to death. Defense
attorneys had called for a sentence of life in prison, arguing that
Rodriguez was sexually abused as a child and has brain damage from
exposure to farm chemicals.
The defense said Rodriguez had been anxious about being released from
prison after serving more than 20 years for assaults on 3 women in 1975
and 1980.
It's North Dakota's 1st death-penalty case in nearly 100 years.
North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal
cases.
(source: TheMilwaukeeChannel.com)