Docs: Rodriguez Has Brain Malformation; Haunted By Sexual Abuse

Documents obtained by KFGO News say Alfonso Rodriguez was traumatized, molested as a child.

 

 

 

 

Newly-filed federal court documents say at least five people sexually abused Alfonso Rodriguez when he was between four and 11 years-old. That's one of the findings reached by a psychologist who was hired by defense attorneys to interview Rodriguez, who’s on death row for the murder of Dru Sjodin.

The documents, obtained by KFGO News, say Rodriguez was traumatized and "profoundly" scarred by the abusers, who were male and female. At least some of the sexual abuse took place when Rodriguez attended a Catholic school for migrant children.

The 107-page document says a physician who examined Rodriguez diagnosed him with a physical brain malformation called “ACM-1.” The doctor wrote that the condition "provides a tangible, mental health basis for understanding Rodriguez's offenses."

Defense attorneys are trying to prove that Rodriguez's condition makes him ineligible for the death penalty.

photo: MRI of Alfonso Rodriguez's brain from court documents.

 

Jim Monk

   

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