Jury deliberation to continue Wednesday in ‘Seven Deadly Sins’ capital murder trial

MORGAN COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — The jury started deliberations in the capital murder trial of Frederic Rogers who is charged, along with John Legg, with killing seven people in Valhermoso Springs in June 2020.

Today’s testimony comes after the state rested its case against the defendant on August 26.

News 19’s Chief Investigative Reporter Brian Lawson tweeted about the next steps now that the state has rested its case.

“Next step will be whether defense puts on its own case. Defense said at trial opening Rogers was guilty, but they hope to spare his life. If he’s found guilty, the trial goes into a penalty phase where sides argue over Rogers should get death penalty.”

Rogers, 26, could face the death penalty if he is convicted. Legg does not yet have a trial date.

The judge told the jury, who was sworn in on August 16, that the trial was likely to last into mid-September.

Monday’s trial ended with the state resting its case against Rogers after watching his interrogation video. Special Agent Christopher Hendon was called to the stand and asked about the statement Rogers signed after the interrogation was finished.

Toward the end of the interrogation video, Carl Cole said Hendon indicated that Rogers was being truthful. When asked if he meant that Hendon said, “Absolutely.” Hendon also confirmed that at no point in the investigation did Rogers ask for a lawyer or refuse to answer questions.

News 19’s Investigative Reporter Dallas Parker is in the courtroom today to provide live trial coverage.

Dallas said the judge is currently talking to the parties, outside of the jury’s presence, about jury instructions. The state rested its case yesterday and she said the defense will likely rest today.

At 9:51 a.m., Dallas said the defense rested its case and would not call more witnesses during the guilt phase of the trial.

Moving to closing arguments, the State’s Courtney Shellack said, “There’s nothing that I need to do to convince you that he’s guilty of capital murder. We’re not arguing about the facts because he told you that he went there to kill everyone. He went there to kill 7 people.”

Shellack said Rogers is charged with four counts of capital murder:

• Count one: Capital murder during a first-degree robbery

• Count two: Intentionally killing two or more people in one course of conduct

• Count four: Capital murder during a second-degree burglary

• Count six: Capital murder during arson

Per yesterday’s trial, counts three and five were dismissed.

Shellack continues saying Rogers labeled himself ‘Pride’ in the club and everything shown in the videos was proof that he “did it.” He asks that when the case is over, not to think of Rogers’ name ever again but to think of the victims.

Tammy Muzzey had 13 bullet holes in her and she was set on fire. Jeramy Roberts trusted Rogers but was shot in the back. Zane Hodgin died in the corner of the garage with seven bullet holes in him. James Benford was shot eight times. Roger Jones was asleep on the bed and was shot 16 times, most of everyone. Emily Payne was shot six times. Dakota Green was 17 when she died.

Shellack said to think about the videos and how the only time Rogers shed a tear was when he thought about how his actions impacted him, how he laughed in the interrogation video when talking about killing his friends.

Defense Attorney Brent Burney then spoke. He said, “The judge is going to tell you at this point in the case that sympathy, passion and emotion have no place in this phase. Normally I would get up here and start pounding away at reasonable doubt. But as you heard day 1, this is not the typical case.”

Burney said his heart goes out to the families and friends of the victims for what they’ve gone through. He said, “But it has to be done. When the state of Alabama wants to execute someone, we have to do it. I told you during jury selection that we’d go to the penalty phase. Y’all remember that?”

Dallas said the jurors nodded in agreement.

Burney continues saying Rogers confessed twice and somewhere between Oregon and the Morgan County Jail he decided to come clean and tell agents why he did it.

He then talked about some of the witnesses and cross-examinations.

“We pointed out some of the conduct of some of the victims, it was not to put them down because they were violating the law, we wanted you to understand that there was more there. There was substance there.”

He says to the jury, “You might not like what my client did, it might disgust you, but even so if the state did not prove all the elements you have to return a verdict of not guilty. You may not like it, but it’s what you have to do.”

Burney tells the jurors that reasonable doubt does exist regarding some of the counts such as robbery and arson elements.

He then made a statement that upset some of the families in the room. He asked the jury whether a person is present in a building if they were already dead. “It was a body, as cold as it sounds, but this is a court of law.”

Burney said the count involving arson is a, “not guilty,” and then thanked the jury for their service.

During a 15-minute break, Dallas said the States Vickery started arguing about Burney’s statement about the victims not being people. She said the two started arguing about case law regarding this issue and Burney said the case the state presented doesn’t define what a ‘person’ is.

In the state’s final closing, Vickery thanks the jury for being invested in the case. He said it’s very clear that Rogers is guilty of capital murder and that, “Rogers admitted exactly what he did.”

Vickery reminds the jury that during the interview, Rogers said he’d hung out with Dakota before and he admitted to killing her. He said, “They planned this down to the details of who would shoot when.”

He continues on to talk about the arson count and how he was essentially glad the victims died before they were set on fire while Rogers only cared about getting rid of the evidence.

Dallas said the jury opted to proceed with jury instructions instead of taking a lunch break, meaning they are given instructions on what to consider in their deliberations.

The jury finished instructions and opted for a lunch break until 2 p.m.

At 2:02 p.m., the jury began deliberation. Around 3:10, the jury said they had questions about the charges and the judge called the jury back into the courtroom. The jury consists of eight women and four men.

He said he could not give the jury a copy of the charges but said he could read the elements and definitions again and the jury asked him to do so.

At 3:59 p.m., the jury decided to go home for the day. They will return at 9 a.m. Wednesday.

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