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Tuesday October 07, 2008 Events Calendar Archive |
STLA Lecture
This presentation features Drew Wrigley, United States Attorney for the District of North Dakota, and Linda Walker, Dru Sjodin’s mother. Drew Wrigley will update the audience on the pending appeal for Alfonso Rodriguez, Junior, who was convicted and sentenced to death for Dru Sjodin’s kidnapping which resulted in her death. The focus of this presentation will not be the case itself but rather the role the victim and her family played in it. Linda Walker will discuss her experience and emotion as she followed the developments in her daughter’s case for three years. Both speakers will discuss the effectiveness of our current system in recognizing the role of the victim and improvements which could be made. Dru's Voice website
Linda Walker
Linda Walker is the mother of Dru Sjodin who, at age 22, was kidnapped from a mall parking lot in Grand Forks, North Dakota on November 22, 2003. Nearly five months later, Dru's body was discovered in a ravine just outside of Crookston, Minnesota. Her murderer, who had only recently been released after serving twenty-three years for attempted kidnapping and sexual assault, has since been convicted and sentenced to death. Linda Walker has since become a tireless advocate of women and children; speaking out against the violence that too frequently takes aim at them. Her journey has taken her throughout the country as she speaks to college students, law enforcement and the media to raise awareness and rally support for legislation. In 2004, Senator Byron Dorgan and Representative Earl Pomeroy sponsored Dru’s Law, to create a National Sexual Offenders Database. Linda was relentless in her conviction to bring this very important legislation to the attention of the public and every Congressman. On July 27, 2006, her efforts were rewarded when she joined the families of other victims in the White House Rose Garden to witness President Bush signing into law, the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act; which included Dru’s Law. In 2007 Linda has joined with the families of other kidnapped children forming an organization born out of their collective tragedies. The Surviving Parents Coalition, a child protection lobbying group, was assembled by Erin Runnion, the mother of Samantha Runnion. To date, the Surviving Parents Coalition has appeared in People Magazine twice and has been honored as a recipient of the People Magazine 2007 Heroes Among Us Award. They have been interviewed by many national print and television stations across the country as their combined efforts are focused on combating child exploitation. www.survivingparentscoalition.org. The Coalition announced in February of 2008 their latest campaign www.notonemorechild.org and has lobbied Congress to fund S.1738 Combating Child Exploitation Act. It is Linda’s prayer that the work she does, in her daughter’s memory, will result in the protection of the most vulnerable, make our communities safer for all and that Dru's murder will not be in vain. www.drusvoice.com
Drew H. Wrigley Drew is a North Dakota native, born in Bismarck. He grew up in Fargo and graduated from Fargo South High School. Drew graduated from the University of North Dakota in 1988 with honors in Economics and a minor in Philosophy. He went on to law school at American University in Washington, DC. Between years in law school Drew returned to North Dakota and worked alternately for Federal Judge Rodney Webb, the United States Attorney’s Office, and the Solberg Law Firm. He graduated from law school in May 1991 and began a year-long judicial clerkship in Delaware. In 1993 Drew joined the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office as an Assistant District Attorney. He served there for over five years, assigned within the trial division, including the Rape and Sexual Assault Unit and the Major Trials Unit. Drew’s extensive investigative and trial work as a state and federal prosecutor has covered all varieties of criminal prosecution. Drew returned home to Bismarck, North Dakota, in 1998. He served as Governor John Hoeven’s Policy Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff from December of 2000 until late 2001, when he was nominated by President Bush and confirmed by the United States Senate as North Dakota’s 17th United States Attorney. U.S. Attorney Wrigley credits his outstanding staff, an aggressive enforcement approach, and strong working relationships between federal, state, and local law enforcement for a dramatic increase in the volume of federal cases handled each year in North Dakota. Since 2001 the United States Attorney’s Office has tripled the number of criminal cases prosecuted yearly and has led statewide and regional efforts to combat drug trafficking, violent crime, gun crime, internet crimes against children, and corruption. Additionally, in 2006 a trial team led by USA Wrigley successfully prosecuted the first federal death-penalty case in North Dakota history, United States v. Alfonso Rodriguez, Jr. Drew, his wife, Kathleen, and their three children live in Fargo. |
