By  Seamus McGraw

(Continued)

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According to the documents released earlier this week, the sexual assault was only part of the young woman's ordeal. Those documents revealed that Rodriguez abducted the young woman at knifepoint on Nov. 22, 2003, tossed a plastic bag over her head, and then drove her through the night to a remote area in Minnesota where he allegedly raped her, stabbed her and then dumped her body.

"The drive was long in distance and in time, all during which Ms. Sjodin was suffering under the pain of her abduction and incapacitation," the documents allege. "She had no idea who her abductor was, she had no idea where he was taking her, and she naturally would have been filled with terror, fearful of sexual and other violent assault, including torture and murder."

Defense works to scuttle death penalty bid

Dru Sjodin's body was discovered in April 2004 in a ravine near Crookston, Minn., not far from the home the 53-year-old sex old sex offender shared with his mother. Authorities have said that Dru died as a result of suffocation, a knife wound to her neck and possibly because of exposure. Blood samples taken from Rodriguez' car matched Dru's DNA, prosecutors have alleged, and hair samples taken from Dru's body matched Rodriguez.

The case has gained widespread media attention, not just because of the brutality of the crime, but also in part because of the way in which it is being prosecuted. Federal authorities have taken over the case, because it involved a crime that spanned two states and because it involved a kidnapping, and that has significantly raised the stakes for Rodriquez. While North Dakota does not have the death penalty and has executed no one in a century, federal courts can impose capital punishment and prosecutors are seeking it in this case.

For their part, defense attorneys seem to be mounting a strategy aimed specifically at scuttling the government's plan to execute Rodriguez.

In opening statements Monday, defense attorney Robert Hoy never challenged the government's assertion that Rodriguez kidnapped and killed the young woman. Instead, he argued that Sjodin most likely died not far from the North Dakota mall where she was abducted and therefore, should be tried only in state court.

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Contact Seamus McGraw at seamusm@ptd.net

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