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Dan Gunderson
Moorhead, Minn.

Rodriguez continues conviction, death sentence appeal in Sjodin case

The search for Dru Sjodin
A massive search took place in northwestern Minnesota in late 2003 for missing University of North Dakota student, Dru Sjodin. Convicted sex offender Alfonso Rodriguez was eventually convicted of abducting and killing Sjodin. That case led to proposals for tougher sex offender legislation on the state and national levels.
Scott Olson | Getty Images

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Attorneys working to overturn the death sentence of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. will present evidence regarding his mental capacity starting Monday in a Fargo courtroom.

Rodriguez was sentenced to death in 2007 for killing University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, a 22-year-old from Pequot Lakes, Minn.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. has been convicted of the kidnapping and death of Dru Sjodin, a college student from North Dakota who was disappeared in November 2003.
MPR file photo

He was found guilty of abducting Sjodin from a Grand Forks, N.D., shopping mall parking lot in November 2003, killing her and disposing of her body in a field near Crookston, Minn., where it was found five months later. He was registered as a Level 3 sex offender, Minnesota's highest risk category, when he was released from a state prison several months earlier.

Because the crime crossed state lines, Rodriguez was tried and convicted in federal court, which opened the door to the death penalty sentence he received. It was the first time in more than a century the death penalty had been deliberated in North Dakota.

In 2017, his defense attorneys presented testimony challenging forensic evidence that had been presented during the trial.

The two-week hearing scheduled to start Monday will present evidence about Rodriguez's mental capacity when he committed the crime. The defense is expected to argue that Rodriguez has impaired intellectual capacity and should not be executed.

Among those testifying will be toxicological and psychiatric experts, as well as the attorney who defended Rodriguez during his 2006 trial.

Sjodin's killing sparked a debate about sex offender laws in Minnesota and nationwide. Federal legislation establishing the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offenders Public Registry was passed in 2006.