Alfonso Rodriguez’s sister and psychologist testify to traumatic past
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. suffers from a number of mental and behavioral problems stemming from a childhood that included sexual abuse, drug abuse, exposure to chemicals and racism, a psychologist told jurors.
Marilyn Hutchinson, a psychologist from Kansas City, Mo., testified Wednesday in federal court, where jurors are considering whether to sentence Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, Minn., to death for the killing of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin.
The jury also heard testimony from Rodriguez’s sister, Sylvia D’Angelo, who said her brother was molested when he was 4 years old and that she remembered “a lot of times being hungry, being scared,” as the migrant family struggled with poverty in the Red River Valley.
Hutchinson, who interviewed and tested Rodriguez twice in the Cass County Jail, has testified in hundreds of criminal cases, including a handful of death penalty cases.
She said Rodriguez’s mental problems include depression and post-traumatic stress.
Hutchinson said she spent about two weeks researching the case, including 24 hours of face-to-face interviews with Rodriguez.
She said defense attorney Richard Ney ordered her not to interview Rodriguez about the kidnapping of Sjodin.
During cross-examination from Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Reisenauer, Hutchinson said she is the only person to diagnose Rodriguez with post-traumatic stress.
She also told Reisenauer that Rodriguez has the ability to make some choices — for example, a decision in 1985 to give up drugs and alcohol — but she said “some choices were perhaps beyond his emotional control.”
Rodriguez grew up with feelings of mistrust, shame and guilt, and started smoking and drinking when he was 9 years old to hide the pain, Hutchinson said.
When he felt angry, he would act out sexual fantasies involving women to make the anger go away, she said.
Her report said most of the fantasies involved women he saw in public who were usually tall and blonde.
Rodriguez was convicted late last month of kidnapping resulting in the death of Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn.
Her body was found in a ravine near Crookston in April 2004, nearly five months after she disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall in November 2003. Authorities said she was beaten, raped and stabbed.
Hutchinson said Rodriguez displays three personality types — one that is kind, thoughtful and shy, another that is boastful and cocky, and another that is angry.
She said that before Rodriguez got out of prison in May 2003, about six months before Sjodin's disappearance, he asked a psychologist for help.
He had served more than 20 years for crimes that included rape and attempted kidnapping.