The Fair Trial

While in North Dakota, it was impossible to miss the upcoming trial of Alfonso Rodriguez, accused killer of Dru Sjodin. Jury selection is under way in Fargo.

The question: Can Rodriguez get a fair trial in small, insular North Dakota?

Larry Leventhal and Ken Tilsen, longtime Twin Cities attorneys with experience in high-profile federal cases, agreed that jury selection will be critical to whether Rodriguez can receive a fair trial.

"He can get a fair trial there," Tilsen said. "But will he -- is another question. It will be very, very difficult, but [it's possible] if the judge controls things properly and is sensitive to ... jury attitudes."

Tilsen participated in the 1974 defense of American Indian Movement leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means, who faced kidnapping, assault and other felony charges from AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973.

That trial was moved from South Dakota to St. Paul, officially for administrative reasons but after defense surveys showed widespread "distrust and dislike of Indian people" among potential jurors in South Dakota, Leventhal said. Charges against Means and Banks eventually were dismissed on the basis of government misconduct.

The questions are fair ones. It'd be fair to say that people in the upper Great Plains distrust and dislike sex offenders accused of raping and murdering their daughters.

The preceding was not intended to be flippant. I would not want to be Rodriguez' defense attorney. There are a few things that draw people to life on the northern plains. People live in places like Grand Forks and Aberdeen and Sjodin's native Pequot Lakes for reasons; chief among them is the notion that you have less to worry about. Your kids are vastly less likely (meth epidemic notwithstanding) to run afoul of gangs, drugs, traffic, or the other hazards of urban life.

So when the balloon gets popped, people get peevish. I'd suspect it's very hard to find much in the way of jury material...

Posted by Mitch at July 7, 2006 07:50 AM | TrackBack