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Cost to defend Rodriguez put at nearly $1 million DRU SJODIN CASE
FARGO, N.D. (AP) - The bill for jailing and defending Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. in his federal death penalty case will total nearly $1 million, court officials say.
U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley said the defense costs are much higher than the prosecution costs.
"Our bill doesn't even approach theirs," he said.
"Our expenses are largely fixed and unchanged by the case," Wrigley said. "The biggest investment in this case was the human time, energy and devotion."
The defense costs total $905,365 for a period from May 12, 2004, when prosecutors indicted Rodriguez for the kidnapping and death of University of North Dakota student Dru Sjodin, through Thursday, said Todd Dudgeon, the deputy in charge of Fargo's federal clerk's office.
A federal jury decided Friday that Rodriguez, 53, of Crookston, should be sentenced to death for the killing of Sjodin, 22 of Pequot Lakes.
The defense bill includes $712,449 in attorney fees, $169,212 in investigative and expert services and $23,704 in travel expenses.
Since his indictment, it cost $84,340 to keep Rodriguez at the Cass County Jail, including his cell fee, medical expenses and overtime for U.S. marshals, according to the federal Marshals Service.
Those figures do not include the costs of keeping Rodriguez at the Grand Forks County Jail or his defense while facing state charges after his arrest.
"Believe me, my firm lost money on this case," said Richard Ney, a Kansas lawyer appointed to Rodriguez's defense. "If somebody thinks there's a big windfall, they're mistaken."
No recent figures are available on government expenses in federal death penalty cases.
In a May 1998 report, the Department of Justice said prosecution costs in such cases, not including investigative costs, were 67 percent higher than the defense.
The Death Penalty Information Center, which opposes capital punishment, said states spend $2 million to $3 million to execute convicted defendants. The nonprofit group said appeals in federal cases can take at least six years.
Ney said prosecutors spent more than $111,000 for psychiatrists for the Rodriguez trial. Wrigley said prosecutors were responding to testing by the defense.
Wrigley said his office also spent up to $25,000 for state experts, including the medical examiner, but he said local and state agencies paid for most of the investigative work before the case moved into federal court.
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