FARGO - Jury selection is wrapping up in the case of the man accused in the death of a University of North Dakota student, after a judge's decision to keep the trial here.

Wednesday's ruling was the second time U.S. District Judge Ralph Erickson has refused a defense request to move the trial of Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. Rodriguez's attorneys renewed their motion a month into the trial, saying they believed interviews with potential jurors showed Rodriguez could not receive a fair trial in Fargo.

Rodriguez, 53, a convicted sex offender from Crookston, Minn., is charged with kidnapping resulting in the death of Dru Sjodin, 22, of Pequot Lakes, Minn. He has pleaded not guilty.

Erickson has advanced 69 potential jurors into the final pool of 70. The final panel of 12 jurors and four alternates will be selected after lawyers use their challenges to eliminate candidates.

The judge rejected the last six potential jurors who were interviewed Wednesday, in most cases without objection from either side. Thursday marks the 21st day in court.

"We have one opportunity to get it right," Erickson said Wednesday, explaining why he needed more time to consider the 67th person added to the pool.

Earlier in the day, the judge released his latest ruling denying the defense motion to move the trial to the Minneapolis area. It reaffirmed a ruling he issued in May.

Defense attorney Richard Ney argued last week that 21 of the first 54 jurors in the pool said they believed Rodriguez was guilty.

Erickson said those numbers likely were based on "tentative answers that he (Ney) has received as responses to leading questions," rather than answers to questionnaires filled out before the potential jurors were interviewed.

"Statements of guilt received in this manner are not accorded great significance," Erickson said.

The judge said less than 2 percent of the jurors chosen before the change of venue hearing have a "strong or fixed opinion" that Rodriguez is guilty.

"This small number of people is insufficient to create a presumption of partiality," Erickson said.

Defense attorneys have been allowed 10 more disqualifications than prosecutors to try to negate "extensive pretrial publicity," Erickson said.

In a footnote to the ruling, the judge said the case has received "the same, if not more" coverage in the Minneapolis area. He quoted former U.S. Attorney from Minnesota David Lillehaug, who told the Associated Press that "Dru Sjodin is a household name in the Twin Cites."

Sjodin disappeared from a Grand Forks shopping mall in November 2003. Her body was found about five months later in a ravine near Crookston, where Rodriguez was living with his mother.

Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty if Rodriguez is convicted.