Rogers to plead insanity

PALMER — A Palmer man accused of killing his father with a machete and another man with a gun will raise an insanity defense.

Friday, Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. appeared before Palmer District Court Judge John Wolfe to change his plea in a pair of misdemeanor cases — one a petition to revoke his probation on a 2006 harassment case, the other a 2007 drunken driving case.

His attorney, public defender Matt Phillips, told Wolfe that Rogers intended to plead insanity in the murder cases and was requesting to delay the misdemeanors until after the murder cases were resolved.

“It could be a defense to these matters,” Phillips said of the insanity plea, and asked that the matters be set for trial rather than a change of plea.

Wolfe set trial for July 29.

Rogers, 28, stands accused of murdering his father, Christopher Erin Rogers Sr., with a machete early on the morning of Dec. 2 and seriously wounding his father’s fiancé, Elann Moren in an attempt to kill her while the couple slept in Rogers Sr.’s Palmer home.

Prosecutors say he then traveled to Anchorage, where he shot to death Jason Wenger, 27, and shot and wounded two more people before his arrest.

Cases against him have been opened in Anchorage, where he faces 10 felony counts, including murder, and Palmer, where he faces eight counts, also including murder.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiers-man.com or 352-220.