Man Convicted in Dru Sjodin Murder to Be Resentenced Without Hearing

The man convicted of murdering Pequot Lakes native Dru Sjodin in 2003 will be resentenced without a hearing.

Federal judge Ralph Erickson overturned Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.’s death sentence in 2021. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Dakota and defense attorneys for Rodriguez, 70, have asked the judge to convert the sentence in the case to life imprisonment.

Rodriguez initially was sentenced to death in 2007 after a jury found him guilty of kidnapping and killing Sjodin. She was a 22-year-old University of North Dakota student when she was abducted from the Columbia Mall in Grand Forks.