Associated Press Writer

By DAVE KOLPACKBy DAVE KOLPACK

FARGO - 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.

"It's like a teeter-totter," Marilyn Hutchinson said, holding one hand higher than the other. "At some point, it just gets too heavy."

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.

While Rodriguez did not say he was going to hurt anyone after his release from prison, the request for help was unusual, Hutchinson said.

"I think he was making a really big statement," she said.

Hutchinson agreed with Reisenauer that Rodriguez has performed well at several jobs, including one with an engineering firm while he was serving time at a halfway house. She agreed that after Rodriguez was released from prison in May 2003, he helped his mother with chores, socialized with relatives, went shopping in Grand Forks and worked as a laborer for a drywall company.

"Would you agree that Mr. Rodriguez can function in a normal society and do the things we do every day?" Reisenauer asked.

"No," Hutchinson said. "He wouldn't be here if he could."

Hutchinson said Rodriguez's father often called him "stupid" and made fun of him. D'Angelo, who fought back tears, said she and Rodriguez did poorly in school and were picked on by other youngsters who called them "dirty Mexicans."

"We had problems because we were strange. We were a different color," D'Angelo said.

During questions by Reisenauer, D'Angelo said it is not unusual for youngsters to tease each other. But D'Angelo and Hutchinson said they believed it was worse for Rodriguez because of his race, physical appearance and failure in school.

"Alfonso was this little short boy with this great big head," Hutchinson said.

She said "something was wrong" with his physical development. She said she could not say exactly what caused it, but said he suffered from malnutrition primarily because he could not digest milk.

D'Angelo, who now lives in New Jersey, said she is 2 years older than her brother and the oldest child in the family. She said Alfonso, known as "Tito" to family members, was molested as a child by a woman in a migrant camp near Crookston, and another time that year by a man from another migrant family who was supposed to be working with her parents. She said the man molested both her and her brother, and Alfonso tried to protect her.

D'Angelo also said she remembered chemicals sprayed on the sugar beet fields where they worked. She said she has suffered from headaches, blurred vision, dizzy spells, tremors and a lack of feeling on one side of her body at times.

"Our father would tell us that when we would see the planes coming toward us, to hide under the leaves," she said. Chemical residue would stick to their skin and hair, she said.

Defense attorneys say Rodriguez's exposure to DDT and other farm chemicals led to mental and physical problems they believe the jury should consider in sentencing.

Ney said he expects to wrap up his case by next Monday afternoon.