FARGO, N.D. — New lawyers handling the appeal for a man sentenced to death for killing a University of North Dakota student said they should complete the transition in three months.

Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. of Crookston was convicted in 2005 of kidnapping and killing Dru Sjodin of Pequot Lakes. The case resulted in tougher laws for sex offenders on the state and federal levels.

A judge earlier this year agreed to shift Rodriguez’s legal representation from a federal public defender’s office in Minnesota to an office in Pennsylvania that specializes in death penalty cases.

Court documents show that the new legal team has met with Rodriguez and expects to take over the case on a full-time basis in October. Rodriguez sits on death row in an Indiana federal prison.