Dru SjodinDru SjodinST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — A Minnesota medical examiner who prosecutors say has a history of delivering false or misleading reports may have mishandled at least seven murder cases in which his testimony helped send people to prison, attorneys announced Wednesday. The announcement followed a sprawling review of cases, some dating back decades, handled by Dr. Michael McGee,…
FARGO, N.D. (AP) — The death sentence for a Minnesota man who killed a North Dakota college student 20 years ago has been officially changed to life in prison. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Ralph Erickson signed the sentence amendment for Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. last week, according to court records. Rodriguez, a sex offender, was convicted in 2007 of…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — It’s been fifty years since the North Dakota legislature banned capital punishment for all crimes. “It is possible that they would decide to implement it again if it seems like the political climate would be right for it. A lot of people who are already sentenced to death are not executed for many, many years. The…
FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — One of the twelve jurors who decided Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. should be executed for kidnapping and murdering Dru Sjodin is speaking out. Luke Lillehaugen was part of the six-week long, three-part trial in 2006 that left Rodriguez sitting on death row in federal prison in Indiana. He says the prospect of Rodriguez getting off death row…
FARGO (KVRR) – Federal prosecutors will no longer seek the death penalty against Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr, the man convicted in the kidnapping and death of Dru Sjodin. U.S. Attorney Mac Schneider says Attorney General Merrick Garland has directed him to withdraw the notice of intent to seek a sentence of death in the case. “My thoughts today are with Dru…
FARGO (KVRR) – An attorney for Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr., the man on death row for the kidnapping and death of Dru Sjodin, says the Biden Administration has halted the death penalty from being imposed in all but one request filed with the Dept. of Justice. Defense attorney Victor Abreu said via teleconference during a hearing at Fargo’s federal courthouse that…
ST. PAUL, Minn. (KFGO/WCCO) – Ramsey County Attorney John Choi’s office is investigating dozens of cases involving the testimony or investigation of former medical examiner Dr. Michael McGee. Last week, Attorney General Keith Ellison announced his office was vacating the murder conviction of a man who was sent to prison nearly 25 years ago for the death of his wife,…
FARGO (KVRR) – Federal prosecutors have suddenly dropped their appeal of a judge’s ruling in September that overturned the death sentence for Alfonso Rodriguez, the man convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and death of Dru Sjodin. On March 3, the U.S. Attorney’s office filed documents stating that prosecutors intended to ask a federal appeals court to overturn Judge Ralph Erickson’s…
Alfonso Rodriguez FARGO (KVRR) – Defense attorneys claim federal prosecutors lacked jurisdiction when they recently appealed a federal judge’s order that overturned the death penalty for Alfonso Rodriguez. On March 3, prosecutors said they intend to ask a federal appeals court to overturn Judge Ralph Erickson’s order in September that threw out the death penalty and ordered a new sentencing…
FARGO (KVRR) – 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…
