A former attorney for Alfonso Rodriguez says the death penalty appeal for the man convicted of killing Dru Sjodin could take another four years to reach the U-S Supreme Court. A mental health hearing originally set for July has been delayed a second time and attorney Bob Hoy predicts it will be a year or more after the judge’s decision before the federal appeals court weighs in — and Hoy says then, “I suspect that there would be a petition… to the U-S Supreme Court…. If they don’t accept it, it’s still a several month process before you do all the briefing and get a decision from them. And if they *do* accept the case, it will be even longer.”
Rodriguez’s next hearing is scheduled for nine days in August.