One thing that Iverson has said over and over again is that “everyone needs to report everything.” “It’s a deep psychological process each time to go on that witness stand and currently I’m not sure if I will have to go on that stand again, and it’s not a happy moment or anything I look forward to, but whatever it takes to ensure Dru has justice.” “Each time I get on the witness stand, either on Dru’s trial or other trials, it is that the validity of my experience, my assault that is questioned, even though he’s already been found guilty and sentenced in my 1974 case, but the validity of that sentence comes under cross examination of his defense attorneys,” she added. “I have come back to the area so many times to collaborate or to testify or assist with Dru’s investigation and I keep trying to think if there was something I can add to those investigations over the years.” “The thing with Dru’s mom is it was important for me to let her know that I will do everything I can to be Dru’s voice about the terror of abduction and that Dru’s not forgotten,” Iverson stated. attorney general that prosecuted the Rodriguez case, Drew Wrigley. Iverson said she spoke with Sjodin’s mother since the overturned death penalty news came out plus she’s spoken with the acting U.S. 22, 2003, and killing her in Minnesota just outside Crookston. Rodriguez was convicted of kidnapping Sjodin from the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks, N.D., on No. Not only in my life, but every life that he (Rodriguez) has touched has been impacted by the decades that this has gone on.” “We now have the Violence Against Women Act or VAWA, which funds victim services, but the court process, the steps that are taken, and the number of levels of appeals are in place to make sure the accused has rights in a trial. “I was raped in 1974 and there really were not services for victims in place,” said Iverson, of Crookston, Minn. Iverson in an interview said that the difficult part of being a rape or sexual assault survivor is the extended legal process and said research shows it does prevent assaults from being reported. Shirley Iverson, who was raped by Rodriguez in 1974, said the overturned sentencing has brought back painful memories and felt that the culture of secrecy had allowed him to become a rapist. 4, 2003, in Northeast Central District Court in Grand Forks. Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., listens at his bail hearing Dec. It’s been 18 years since the abduction and murder of Dru Sjodin, and 14 years since Alfonso Rodriguez was sentenced to death for her kidnapping and killing, but a federal judge’s recent ruling overturned the death penalty for the case and a new sentencing trial could be held for Rodriguez. Rodriguez remains locked up at a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana.CROOKSTON, Minn. Sjodin’s disappearance sparked days of massive searches, reshaped the way Minnesota handled sex offenders and led to the national sex offender registry being renamed for Sjodin. ![]() Last year Erickson ordered a new sentencing phase for Rodriguez after ruling 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 Rodriguez’s constitutional rights.Īuthorities said Rodriguez, a convicted sex offender, kidnapped Sjodin from the parking lot of a shopping mall in Grand Forks in 2003 and drove her to Minnesota, where he killed her and left her body in a field near Crookston. 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. Prosecutors filed a one-page notice Thursday with the 8th U.S. The same jury sentenced Rodriguez to death in the first and only federal capital punishment case in North Dakota. 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.Ī jury in 2006 convicted Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., of Crookston, Minnesota, in the killing of 22-year-old Dru Sjodin, of Pequot Lakes, Minnesota.
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