By  Seamus McGraw

July 11, 2006

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FARGO, N.D. (Crime Library) — It's been more than 100 years since anyone was executed in North Dakota, and that to some degree may explain the deliberate pace and sometimes contentious mood in the U.S. District Court in Fargo where jury selection is entering its fourth day in the death penalty case against Alfonzo Rodriguez Jr.

Rodriguez, a 53-year-old convicted sex offender who spent nearly a quarter of a century behind bars in neighboring Minnesota, is facing federal kidnapping charges in connection with the Nov. 22, 2003 kidnapping, sexual assault and slaying of 22-year-old Dru Sjodin,

a student and part time worker at a local mall. Authorities have said that Rodriguez, who had been freed just six months before Sjodin's abduction and torture, allegedly grabbed the young woman as she chatted with her boyfriend on her cell phone after she had gotten off work at a local mall. Her muffled cries of "Oh, my God," were the last words anyone but her killer heard her speak.

Authorities quickly honed in on Rodriguez, who had been classified by Minnesota authorities as a Level Three sex offender. That designation — reserved for the most dangerous sexual predators — could have given Minnesota officials the authority to move to have Rodriguez committed to a secure treatment facility for an indeterminate period after he completed his prison term. Minnesota opted not to use that authority.

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