FARGO (AP) - Federal prosecutors say they have completed their response to an appeal by a man sentenced to death for killing a University of North Dakota student.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston, Minn., was convicted in the 2003 kidnapping and killing of 22-year-old Dru Sjodin. His lawyers have appealed the verdict.

U.S. Attorney Drew Wrigley says the government's answer was submitted on Tuesday. He says he won't discuss specifics until the document is released by the appeals court.

Wrigley says the 40,000-word response was an enormous task because the trial lasted more than two months. He says "what's really on trial at this point is the trial itself."