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(AP) - The sister of the man convicted of kidnapping
and killing college student Dru Sjodin says her brother needs
mental health treatment and not death by lethal injection.

      Ileanna Noyes spoke Sunday at North Dakota State University, in
a panel discussion sponsored by the North Dakota Human Rights
Coalition, which opposes the death penalty.

      Noyes is the sister of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr., who was convicted
and sentenced to death by federal court jurors in Fargo for the
kidnapping and killing of Sjodin, 22, a University of North Dakota
student from Pequot Lakes, Minn.

      Noyes said a juror approached her after Sunday's talk and said
he regretted his decision.

      "He said it's been eating at him," Noyes said. "I told him I
didn't hold any grudges against him."

      Sjodin's family recently reached a $300,000 settlement with the
state of Minnesota over claims that authorities there were partly
responsible for Sjodin's death by releasing Rodriguez, a convicted
rapist, after he finished serving a 23-year sentence for stabbing
and trying to abduct a woman. 

A state psychologist had decided
against recommending Rodriguez for civil commitment.

      Noyes said Sunday that she made phone calls to try to keep her
brother in prison or in a treatment program. She said her family
could not afford a halfway house.

      After her brother's arrest, Noyes said, she tried to help police
and the Sjodin family. She recorded a conversation with Rodriguez
in jail to try to help authorities. Her husband, Dan, joined the
search party to look for Sjodin. She said her family has received
death threats and has needed authorities to keep watch at their
Crookston, Minnesota, home.

      "The only crime my family is guilty of is the crime of
unconditional love," Noyes said.

      Noyes said her family supports punishment for her brother's
crime, but she believes the death penalty is cruel, racially
motivated and tortures the defendant's family.

      "I see him as an ill man who needs mental health care, not a
lethal injection," she said of her brother. "I sincerely believe
he does not want to be this way."
     

Gallery

State of Minnesota settles with Dru Sjodin's family

Judge sentences Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. to death

Dru Sjodin's parents speak about daughter's murder

Psychologist says Rodriguez has a number of mental problems

Rodriguez's mother urges jury to spare son's life

Crime, Law and Justice

The sister of the man convicted of kidnapping
and killing college student Dru Sjodin says her brother needs mental health treatment, and not death by lethal injection.


Alfonso Rodriguez Jr.'s sister says he needs treatment, not death

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