Dru trial

[petey23]

Instead, Rodriguez appears to be pinning his hopes on the very words of the federal statute he

[HockeyMom]

I have a hard time watching the video of Dru shopping in Marshall Fields. It's sad to see her and know what she is about to go through moments after that video was recorded.

I hope that the jurors do the right thing as the case comes to a close in the next few weeks.

[dakotadan]

I know what you mean. It's like watching a horror movie. No matter how many times you see it, you just want to scream "Don't walk out that door" even though you know it won't change anything.

[CoteauRinkRat]

I have a hard time watching the video of Dru shopping in Marshall Fields. It's sad to see her and know what she is about to go through moments after that video was recorded.

The video makes me sick to my stomach.

[PartTime]

I think that's the reaction of all (or most) people when viewing the clips................sad!

[PCM]

It's also frightening to see Rodriguez in Target. Notice how he looks toward the young blond woman who's having a conversation with her friend just before he sits on the bench facing them.

Notice that another young blond woman pushing a shopping cart exits Target just before Rodriguez comes out. From the time stamp, you can see that he gets up suddenly and makes his way out the door, as if he was following the woman with the shopping cart.

It really makes you wonder if he wasn't stalking young women with certain characteristics. Imagine being one of those women and seeing yourself in that video.

[HockeyMom]

It really makes you wonder if he wasn't stalking young women with certain characteristics. Imagine being one of those women and seeing yourself in that video.

I think it would be tough to be anyone in that video thinking- I was that close to that ********......if I had only known.

[Sioux-cia]

I think it would be tough to be anyone in that video thinking- I was that close to that ********......if I had only known.

I rarely watch the news on tv. Was that where you saw the video?

[siouxforeverbaby]

I rarely watch the news on tv. Was that where you saw the video?

Yeah, it is a survalince (sp?) video from Target and one from Marshall Field's that they keep showing on the news. I read in the news today that the media is going to be able to gain a copy of a video. I am assuming a different one, but out of respect to Dru's family they aren't going to release photos of Dru after they found her to the public, just photos of the area where they found her because they could get that anyway.

[Sioux-cia]

Reading about it, talking about it, etc. brings back all those terrible, sick feelings I felt when she went missing and after she was found. I can't even image the horror her family must be going through. Justice is all they have left to look forward to for Dru.

[HockeyMom]

I rarely watch the news on tv. Was that where you saw the video?

Video

[Sioux-cia]

Video

Link doesn't open for me.

[HockeyMom]

Link doesn't open for me.

Forum

That's the Forum website........the link is under the Rodrig-ass Trial stuff.

[Sioux-cia]

Forum

That's the Forum website........the link is under the Rodrig-ass Trial stuff.

After watching the video, it's quite clear that the bottom feeding, ass-wipe on trial is a predator who was hunting for a victim. I pray to God that everyone on the jury sees that as clearly as I do and the dirt bag is sent to hell for an eternity of pain via the electric chair.

[SiouxPride0303]

That is all.

[HockeyMom]

Medical examiner: Sjodin knife wounds likely inflicted at the place where body found

Is this enough for the jury to decide if Dru died after transportation began?

[siouxforeverbaby]

Though Sjodin's blood matched samples taken from the rear back seat of Rodriguez

[HockeyMom]

[shep]

I'm a lawyer.

The issue is whether Dru was dead before or after crossing state lines.

If she was in fact dead before crossing state lines, it is not a federal crime. If it's not a federal crime, then it goes back to state court where there is no death penalty.

I thank God there is no death penalty, for it is God's work to determine the eternal punishment and what we do in this life is for Him to judge and when I get to the pearly gates I do not want anyone else's life (and death) on my hands.

[Sioux-cia]

Our God is a vengeful God. I pray that the outcome of this trial will be evidence of that vengence.

[PCM]

I'm a lawyer.

The issue is whether Dru was dead before or after crossing state lines.

If she was in fact dead before crossing state lines, it is not a federal crime. If it's not a federal crime, then it goes back to state court where there is no death penalty.

I'm certainly no lawyer, but according to what's been in the papers, the issue of transportation isn't completely clear.

This is from the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Defining 'transportation'

The federal kidnapping statute under which Rodriguez has been charged requires that the victim "was alive when the transportation began."

But what does "transportation" mean? Prosecutors will argue that the kidnapping began when Sjodin was forced to move as little as a few feet.

David Lillehaug, a former U.S. attorney for Minnesota, said that Congress amended the kidnapping statute years ago to say that prosecutors "don't have to prove the victim was alive" when taken to another state.

"The prosecution should not have the burden of showing she was breathing when they crossed state lines," he said. "If she was pushed into Rodriguez's car and killed in that car, or he forced her to drive to his car [elsewhere in the mall parking areas] and killed her there, then the interstate transport has begun."

Here's another quote from Lillehaug in an AP story:

To convict Rodriguez under federal kidnapping guidelines, prosecutors must show the 22-year-old Sjodin was still alive before being transported in a vehicle, said David Lillehaug, a former U.S. Attorney from Minnesota.

Rodriguez attorneys have suggested Sjodin died in the mall parking lot within minutes after she was abducted.

The answer to the question of where she died is a key in the case, Lillehaug said.

"If there's any forensic evidence that she struggled or was in distress after she was put in his car, that part of the trial is over," he said Friday.

Here's the federal statute that applies (emphasis added):

Section 1201. Kidnapping

(a) Whoever unlawfully seizes, confines, inveigles, decoys, kidnaps, abducts, or carries away and holds for ransom or reward or otherwise any person, except in the case of a minor by the parent thereof, when -

(1) the person is willfully transported in interstate or foreign commerce,

regardless of whether the person was alive when transported across a State boundary if the person was alive when the transportation began

;

shall be punished by imprisonment for any term of years or for life and, if the death of any person results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment.

If I were a juror, I would find it much easier to believe that Dru was still alive when the transportation began than I would believe that she was dead before Rodriguez car moved an inch. Otherwise, why keep her bound? Why stab her and slash her throat?

It's clear that he kidnapped Dru. It's clear that he killed her. It's clear that he took her across the state line. And the law is quite clear that it doesn't matter if she was alive or dead when the car entered Minnesota from North Dakota.

The defense is trying to get Rodriguez off on a technicality of whether Sjodin was still alive before the car moved because that's all they've got.

[SiouxPride0303]

[THETRIOUXPER]

I thank God there is no death penalty, for it is God's work to determine the eternal punishment and what we do in this life is for Him to judge and when I get to the pearly gates I do not want anyone else's life (and death) on my hands.

I think General (Stromin') Norman Schwarzkopf said it best when he said, " it's not our job to judge these people, however it is our job to make sure they meet God as soon as possible so that he can judge them." This was in reference to a question he was asked about the situation in the Mid-East (specifically terrorists) sometime after 911. The same logic could be used here with rodrig-ass. I hope this jury isn't concerned about anwering to a higher power for doing a job that I'm sure they really don't want to do.

[PCM]

The stabbing/slashing may also have been sexually charged, but more likely because he is a violent offender and intended to murder her no matter what. But its "overkill" if he knew she was dead from suffocation. Overkill seems to happen quite often, doesnt it..at least its heard in more 'high profile' cases.

That's a possibility, except the jury should be wise enough to see that it wasn't his MO in past abductions.

I stumbled upon this blog entry, written not long after Dru's disappearance, which seems to fairly accurately desribe Rodriguez's standard MO:

Proffessional, world-class kidnap teams simply grab you and yank you into a van. That's because they deal with people who know better. However, when these incidents occur outside of John LeCarre novels, the perpetrator is usually less skilled. Thus, the intended victim is often instructed to get into the car/van/alley/house under threat, meaning that they are given a choice that should at first seem obvious. However, anyone who has any safety instruction knows the truth.

You never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER go with the attacker. If an attacker tries to take you into a vehicle, building, or alley, they are trying to get you to what's called the secondary crime scene (the primary crime being when they accosted you.) The secondary crime scene is a place where an attacker can act without fear of discovery. This is where the worst possible things they want to do to you will happen, and it must be avoided at all costs. Even if they are pointing a gun directly at your head and telling you to get into a comfy new Maybach, you have to run away. (In the case of firearms, the pro advice is, I'm not kidding, run away in an arc.)

Now, CNN will never tell you this, because even if it is the right play all the time, someone may still take the advice, catch a bullet in the arm in their escape, and sue. That is why I'm not guaranteeing this advice at all. It's simply the advice you'll get from the pros, so I'm passing it along.

For me to believe the "sexually charged" angle leading to overkill, I'd need to see some evidence that this is how Rodriguez behaved in the past. All indications I've seen are that he used the secondary crime scene plan that he's used before.

[HockeyMom]

What I just read in the paper (McGee's testimony) makes me physically ill. I don't think I would have been able to keep myself composed in the courtroom, if I was sitting on the jury.

I believe that the fear of getting caught and the punishment for committing that crime- is the biggest deterent for others to commit said crime.

That said, if he is found guilty, let him fry.