Fargo, N.D. (AP) Dru Sjodin's (shuh-DEEN's) mother says "Dru's voice was heard." Linda Walker spoke with reporters after jurors handed down a death sentence this morning for Alfonso Rodriguez Junior, the man convicted in Sjodin's death.

Walker's voice shook as she said she knew the decision was not an easy one for jurors.

The decision was announced after jurors met for about an hour and a half this morning. The same federal jury convicted Rodriguez last month of kidnapping resulting in Sjodin's death.

Rodriguez looked straight ahead and showed no emotion as the sentence was announced. His mother and sister cried, as did a number of the jurors.

The University of North Dakota student from Pequot (PEE'-kwaht) Lakes, Minnesota, disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall parking lot in November 2003. Her body was found the following April in a ravine near Crookston, in northwestern Minnesota.

It's North Dakota's first death-penalty case in nearly a century.

North Dakota does not have the death penalty but it is allowed in federal cases.

(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.) APNP 09-22-06 1206CDT | save this article / add to your favorites list