Page 6 of 7 FirstFirst ... 4567 LastLast
Results 51 to 60 of 61

Thread: Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. - Federal

  1. #51
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Judge: Rodriquez can't use intellectual disability as factor

    By Associated Press

    FARGO, N.D. (AP) — A federal judge says defense attorneys cannot use intellectual disability as a factor in the second death penalty debate for a man convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and killing of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin.

    Judge Ralph Erickson last year ordered a new sentencing phase for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., after ruling that misleading testimony from the coroner and other factors had violated Rodriguez’s constitutional rights.

    Defense attorneys then asked Erickson to reconsider intellectual disability as a defense.

    The judge said in an order last week that it cannot be used to consider Rodriguez’s eligibility for capital punishment.

    Rodriguez, a convicted sex offender from Crookston, Minnesota, is being held in a federal jail.

    https://www.wxow.com/news/minnesota-...2a786d464.html
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  2. #52
    Senior Member CnCP Legend Mastro Titta's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2018
    Location
    Prato, Italy
    Posts
    1,275
    Feds will ask appeals court to reinstate death penalty for Rodriguez

    By Jim Monk
    KVRR

    FARGO – Prosecutors will ask a federal appeals court to reverse a federal judge’s order that threw out the death penalty for Alfonso Rodriguez, the man convicted of kidnapping and killing Dru Sjodin.

    The U.S. Attorney’s office in Fargo has filed a notice that says prosecutors intend to ask the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Judge Ralph Erickson’s order and reinstate the death penalty for Rodriguez.

    “The United States of America, by Nicholas W. Chase, United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota, and Melissa H. Burkland, Assistant United States Attorney, hereby gives notice that the Plaintiff/Respondent, United States of America, appeals to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit…” the notice reads.

    In a 232-page ruling in September, 2021, Erickson ruled that misleading testimony from the coroner, the failure of lawyers to outline the possibility of an insanity defense and evidence of severe PTSD had violated Rodriguez’s constitutional rights. Erickson ordered a new sentencing phase to be conducted.

    North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley, a former U.S. Attorney who led the federal death penalty prosecution against Rodriguez, has said the decision to appeal Erickson’s orders would likely be decided at “the top levels of the Justice Department.”

    https://www.kvrr.com/2022/03/04/feds...for-rodriguez/

  3. #53
    Administrator Aaron's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2015
    Location
    New Jersey, unfortunately
    Posts
    4,382
    I'm slightly confused. Erickson has been a judge on the 8th Circuit since 2017. Was he allowed to continue presiding over District Court proceedings rather than bequeathing the case to a different judge upon his promotion, or was a single judge from the jurisdiction's governing Court of Appeals allowed to act in the capacity of a District Judge for some reason?
    Don't ask questions, just consume product and then get excited for next products.

    "They will hurt you. They will hurt your grandma, these people. The root cause of this is there's no discipline in the homes, they don't go to school, you know, they live off the government, no personal accountability, and they just beat people up for no reason, and it's disgusting." - Former Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters

  4. #54
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Feds to appeal reversal in North Dakota death penalty case

    By Associated Press

    FARGO, N.D. (AP) — Federal prosecutors plan to appeal a ruling that overturned the death sentence for a Minnesota man convicted of kidnapping and killing a University of North Dakota student.

    A jury in 2006 convicted Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., of Crookston, Minnesota, in the killing of 22-year-old Dru Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota. The same jury sentenced Rodriguez to death in the first and only federal capital punishment case in North Dakota.

    Prosecutors filed a one-page notice Thursday with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that they were challenging the ruling by Judge Ralph Erickson, who oversaw Rodriguez’s trial and is now a member of the 8th Circuit.

    Last year, Erickson ordered a new sentencing phase for Rodriguez after ruling that Rodriguez’s constitutional rights were violated.

    https://www.kfyrtv.com/2022/03/06/fe...-penalty-case/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #55
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    On March 4, 2022, Rodriguez filed an appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...ts/ca8/22-1461

    Note: Rodriguez’s direct appeal was denied in 2009 and he filed a habeas petition in federal district court in 2011. I assume that appeal was denied

    On March 17, 2022, Rodriguez filed a second appeal to the United States Court of Appeals For The Eighth Circuit

    https://dockets.justia.com/docket/ci...ts/ca8/22-1559
    Last edited by Bobsicles; 03-19-2022 at 10:16 PM.
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  6. #56
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Feds drop appeal in Sjodin killing, still seek death penalty

    By Pat Sweeney
    KNOX Radio

    Federal prosecutors have dropped their appeal of a judge’s decision to overturn the death sentence for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and killing of Dru Sjodin.

    But they say they still intend to seek the death penalty when Rodrigiez is resentenced.

    Rodriguez, of Crookston, was convicted in 2006 of kidnapping the 22-year-old UND student, resulting in her death.

    He was sentenced to death, but last year, the judge who oversaw Rodriguez’s trial ordered that a new sentencing proceeding be held, saying Rodriguez’s constitutional rights were violated.

    In a filing today (Fri), prosecutors agreed to dismiss their appeal of that decision.

    But they say they will continue to seek the death penalty.

    https://knoxradio.com/2022/03/25/fed...death-penalty/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  7. #57
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Guilty verdicts in doubt as Ramsey County reviews cases linked to ex-medical examiner

    Prosecutors will take another look at 71 cases in which Dr. Michael McGee provided key testimony

    By Shannon Prather
    Star Tribune

    The Ramsey County Attorney's Office is reviewing more than 70 criminal convictions associated with the county's longtime medical examiner amid "scathing" criticism of his work in two separate death investigations.

    Ramsey County Attorney John Choi said his staff has worked with an outside firm to comb through hundreds of cases in which Dr. Michael McGee was a witness, and has narrowed its review to 71 cases.

    "It's really important that we are committed to the integrity of our convictions," Choi said in an interview Thursday. "My job is not to be there to protect a conviction at all costs. My job is to do justice and to do that job without fear or favor. I will do whatever justice requires as a result of this review."

    McGee was the county medical examiner from 1985 to 2019 and continued to work for the department as a forensic pathologist until he retired in 2021. As medical examiner, he also served neighboring Washington County and more than a dozen outstate counties.

    McGee could not be reached for comment Thursday.

    In September 2021, U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Erickson vacated a 2006 federal death penalty sentence in part because of McGee's autopsy findings. The judge called portions of his testimony "unreliable, misleading and inaccurate."

    Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was convicted in federal court of the 2003 kidnapping and killing of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin. He awaits a new sentencing.

    Sjodin was kidnapped from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks, N.D., in November 2003, and her remains were discovered in a field near Crookston, Minn. in April 2004.

    At trial, McGee "testified that he believed Sjodin's neck was slashed where her body was found ...," according to the opinion. He identified four possible causes of death: the slash wounds, asphyxiation, strangulation or exposure to cold if the wounds were not fatal.

    "The evidence in the record demonstrates that McGee did much more than merely follow where the evidence and science led him. Instead, he chose to play the role of a super sleuth, something akin to Sherlock Holmes," Erickson wrote.

    "McGee provided the government with a theory worthy of capital punishment. But more importantly, a theory that was neither contained within McGee's autopsy reports nor disclosed to trial counsel until long after the deadline for expert disclosures had passed.

    Worse yet, it was a theory unsupportable by competent evidence."

    On appeal, several experts reviewed the evidence and testified at the evidentiary hearing.

    "Not a single expert who was called to testify at the evidentiary hearing supported McGee's conclusion that there was evidence indicating Sjodin's neck was slashed," according to the opinion.

    Choi said that while the case was outside of his Ramsey County jurisdiction, the judge's "scathing" criticism of his community's medical examiner could not be ignored.

    "We have to take that seriously," Choi said.

    Choi hired the Prosecutors' Center for Excellence, an independent nonprofit, to recommend a course of action and assist with evaluating cases. They looked for cases where the cause of death was an issue "that needed to be considered by the prosecutor as well as the finder of fact and the defense attorney."

    Prosecutors will review the medical examiner files, prosecution files and trial transcripts in the remaining 71 cases. Choi said they will also hire an outside, nationally recognized forensic pathologist to assist in the review.

    Questions around McGee deepened last week, when a Kandiyohi County judge vacated a 1998 murder conviction that hinged on his testimony. Thomas Rhodes, now 63, was convicted in 1998 of first- and second-degree murder in the death of his wife, 36-year-old Jane Rhodes, who fell overboard and drowned on a night-time boat ride with her husband in 1996.

    The murder conviction relied on McGee, who said Rhodes grabbed his wife by the neck, threw her overboard and drove the boat over her several times, the state Attorney General's Office said last week. Rhodes told investigators his wife fell out of the boat and he was unable to locate her.

    The Conviction Review Unit in the Attorney General's Office examined the case. As part of that investigation, a forensic pathologist found that Jane Rhodes' death was not inconsistent with an accidental fall, the office said.

    Rhodes had his murder conviction vacated this month after nearly 25 years in prison, and pleaded guilty to manslaughter instead. He left prison Jan. 13.

    "Certainly what happened this past Friday adds to the urgency and need to do this," Choi said. "In some ways, I feel validated because we are spending a lot of money on this."

    The county has spent $175,000 on two contracts with the Prosecutors' Center For Excellence, Choi said. His staff is coordinating with the Minnesota Attorney General's Office Conviction Review Unit and the Great North Innocence Project, which are also reviewing cases associated with McGee from outside Ramsey County.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

    https://www.startribune.com/ramsey-c...ner/600244914/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  8. #58
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    US no longer seeking death for man convicted in Sjodin case

    By JIM SALTER
    The Associated Press

    U.S. prosecutors said Tuesday that they will no longer seek the death penalty for the man convicted in the kidnapping and killing of college student Dru Sjodin in 2003 in a case that led to changes in sex offender registration laws.

    U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider said in a news release that following a directive from Attorney General Merrick Garland, he filed a notice withdrawing his effort to seek the death penalty for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.

    “My thoughts today are with Dru Sjodin’s family, particularly her parents, Linda Walker and Allan Sjodin,” Schneider said in the release. “They are genuinely good people and loving parents who in the wake of an unimaginable loss have worked closely with our office for nearly 20 years. We continue to wish them the greatest measure of peace possible.”

    Messages left with Rodriguez’s attorney and with the attorney general’s office wasn’t immediately returned.

    It’s not the first time Rodriguez has avoided the death penalty in the case. In September 2021, then U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson ruled that misleading testimony from the coroner, the failure of lawyers to outline the possibility of an insanity defense, and evidence of severe post-traumatic stress disorder had violated Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.’s constitutional rights. Erickson ordered a new sentencing phase be conducted.

    Rodriguez has been on death row at a federal prison for nearly two decades in the death of Sjodin, a Minnesota woman who was abducted from a Grand Forks mall parking lot in November 2003.

    https://apnews.com/article/death-pen...888a33670feaa7
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

  9. #59
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Toronto, Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    20,875
    Prosecutors, defense attorneys ask judge to remove Rodriguez from death row

    By Jim Monk
    KVRR News

    FARGO (KVRR) – Federal prosecutors in Fargo and attorneys for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. have started the process of removing Rodriguez from death row.

    In March, Attorney General Merrick Garland directed U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider to withdraw the notice of intention to seek the death penalty against Rodriguez, who was sentenced to death in 2006 for the kidnapping and killing of Dru Sjodin.

    The documents filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Fargo formally request a federal judge to re-sentence Rodriguez to life in prison.

    “The United States of America, by Mac Schneider, United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota, and Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. (“Rodriguez”), by counsel Victor Abreu, moves the Court to modify Rodriguez’s death sentence to a sentence of life imprisonment” the attorneys wrote.

    “Because life imprisonment is the only sentence available, the parties agree the Court should modify Rodriguez’s sentence in a written order without holding a hearing.”

    Rodriguez will not be eligible for early release. “What we know for certain is he will be sentenced to life in prison and that he will draw his last breath in the Custody of the Bureau of Prisons.

    North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley was the U.S. Attorney who led the prosecution against Rodriguez. Wrigley has said Garland’s decision not to pursue the death penalty against Rodriguez is “a grave affront to justice and to the hearts and souls of all who loved and cared for Dru Sjodin.”

    https://www.kvrr.com/2023/05/17/pros...rom-death-row/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  10. #60
    Moderator Bobsicles's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Tennessee
    Posts
    7,316
    Death sentence for Alfonso Rodriguez, who killed Dru Sjodin, changed to life in prison

    Prosecutors said a hearing would serve no purpose since the only possible punishment left after the death penalty was overturned was life in prison

    By April Baumgarten
    infoforum.com

    FARGO — The death sentence for a man who kidnapped and killed Dru Sjodin 20 years ago has been changed to life in prison.

    Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Erickson signed the sentence amendment for 70-year-old Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. on Thursday, May 18. The signature ends decades of court proceedings in connection to the 2003 death of Sjodin.

    As of Tuesday, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons had Rodriguez classified as a death row inmate at a maximum security penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. It’s unclear when Rodriguez will be moved off death row and where he will serve the remainder of his sentence.

    "Per Bureau of Prisons (BOP) policy specific designation information, including location and timing, is not releasable until after an individual arrives at his or her destination," BOP spokesman Benjamin O'Cone said in an email to The Forum.

    A jury had sentenced Rodriguez in 2007 to death for kidnapping Sjodin on Nov. 22, 2003, from Columbia Mall in Grand Forks. Rodriguez sexually assaulted the University of North Dakota student before marching her down a ravine near Crookston, Minnesota, according to prosecutors.

    He then slashed the 22-year-old’s throat and left her for dead in the snow. Her body was found five months later.

    Erickson, who oversaw the jury trial and sentencing hearing when he was a U.S. judge in North Dakota, overturned the death penalty for Rodriguez in September 2021. The circuit judge said defense attorneys should have done more to challenge a medical examiner’s findings on Sjodin’s death and explore Rodriguez’s mental health problems that could have mitigated the death sentence.

    In March, U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland withdrew authorization for federal prosecutors to seek capital punishment in the case. Rodriguez’s current attorneys and North Dakota U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider agreed last week to amend the sentence without a hearing.

    "Speaking for our office, I will say that a hearing would serve no purpose because the only possible legal outcome is a sentence of life in prison without possibility of parole," Schneider said in an email to The Forum.

    https://www.inforum.com/news/fargo/d...life-in-prison
    Thank you for the adventure - Axol

    Tried so hard and got so far, but in the end it doesn’t even matter - Linkin Park

    Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever. - Hin-mah-too-yah-lat-kekt

    I’m going to the ghost McDonalds - Garcello

Page 6 of 7 FirstFirst ... 4567 LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •