Say Anything Blog

A death sentence in North Dakota's first capital punishment case in nearly a century could prompt lawmakers to reconsider whether the state should have the penalty, the governor and attorney general said.

A federal jury decided Friday a 53-year-old convicted sex offender should be executed for kidnapping and killing a college student after she left a shopping mall.

The same jury convicted Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. on Aug. 30 of kidnapping resulting in Dru Sjodin's death.

North Dakota's last execution was in 1905, and the last person sentenced to death was spared in 1915. The state no longer has the death penalty, but it is allowed in federal cases.

North Dakota lawmakers have not debated a death penalty bill since 1995, when the Senate defeated the idea. Stenehjem was a senator at the time, and he led the opposition to the measure on the Senate floor.

"You have to think about what kind of a reaction the state of North Dakota needs to offer," Stenehjem said Friday. "I think it's early to say that the Legislature might take a different approach than it has, but sometimes you have to look and say, 'Maybe things are changing.'"

Gov. John Hoeven said he would not include a death penalty proposal in his budget recommendations to the 2007 Legislature, although he personally supports the idea.

"I'm open to that discussion," Hoeven said. "We need to take very strong measures for these violent sexual offenses, and we're going to continue to put tougher laws in place."