Attorney General Drew Wrigley (R-ND)
BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – North Dakota Attorney General Drew Wrigley says the Biden Administration justice department deserves credit for filing federal charges against the man accused in the murder of UnitedHealth Insurance CEO Brian Thompson in New York. The two federal counts could make it a death penalty case. Wrigley was North Dakota US Attorney when he asked that the kidnapping and murder of UND student Dru Sjodin be tried as a capital punishment case.
“There was, what they believe to be, and I concur with them, strong federal interest in this matter because it involved interstate travel over the course, allegedly, over the course of the planning stages and then carrying it out, the murder, and also just the use of the firearm and a couple of other things for the charges and I believe too that there’s a strong federal interest in a matter where you, the crime itself is allegedly to have covered a couple of different states,” said Wrigley.
Wrigley says the process of getting justice department approval for such a case is lengthy and complicated.
“You have to be able to provide compelling evidence to the justice department that you are not only going to be able to prove the offense, every element of the offense, beyond a reasonable doubt, but that you will be able to allege and prove beyond a reasonable doubt as at least one aggravating factor in the case,” he added.
Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. was sentenced to death in the 2003 murder of Sjodin, who was kidnapped from outside Columbia Mall in Grand Forks. Rodriguez was later removed from death row by the judge who presided over his trial in Fargo. He’s now serving a life term in a federal prison in Florida.
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