Jury selection continues for Rogers trial

PALMER — Jury selection continued Monday in the murder trial of Christopher Erin Rogers Jr.

Like last week, lawyers spent Monday morning asking jurors, one at a time, what they’d already heard about the case.

Rogers, 29, faces 12 counts, including murder, in his Palmer case. Prosecutors allege he killed his father, Christopher Erin Rogers Sr., and seriously wounded his father’s fiancée, Elann Moren, with a machete Dec. 2, 2007. In a trial set for Jan. 20 in Anchorage, Rogers faces 10 more counts, also including murder. According to police, after leaving Palmer, he went to Anchorage and shot three people, killing 27-year-old Jason Wenger.

Most jury pools contain at least one person with some degree of local celebrity. For Rogers’ trial, that would be Marty Metiva, who lost a heated run-off election for Wasilla mayor to Verne Rupright earlier this year.

Metiva’s political campaign didn’t come up in the hearing, although his connections to people who may have a connection to the trial came up. Both related to work Metiva or his wife have done on charitable boards.

As to what he’d already read about the case, Metiva said, “I recall that a machete was used and I do believe that they found him in Anchorage.”

Metiva passed muster with prosecutor Romany Kalytiak and defense attorney John Richard and will move on to the second round of jury questioning.

Richard, for his part, seemed most interested in what people knew about what happened in Anchorage. Rogers’ actions in Anchorage will likely not be admitted into the Palmer trial. Richard seemed concerned about how jurors would view his case if they knew details of alleged Anchorage acts.

Over the course of three hours Monday morning, he asked the same basic question of at least a half-dozen jurors who had indicated on pre-trial questionnaires that they’d read about the Anchorage shootings.

“If the ultimate issue is whether or not Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. intended to kill his father, how do you think what happened in Anchorage will affect your decision?” Richard asked in one of many formulations of the question.

Most jurors said they could separate the two incidents. More questioning went to those who said they’d have a hard time believing Rogers didn’t intend murder in Palmer if he later shot at three more people. Some were dismissed.

Monday’s jury pool also contained Garland Forschen, director of public works for Houston. Richard asked how he’d feel if, as one of two people who plows roads in the area, it snowed two feet one day during trial.

“That would be a hardship for the city of Houston,” Forschen said, adding he’d be able to handle it.

Forschen, like Metiva and many others, will move on to the second round of jury selection.

Superior Court Judge Vanessa White told jurors she expected the trial to last multiple weeks, perhaps running right up to the Christmas holidays. As jurors were asked to call in to find out what time they had to return, the judge reminded them to avoid trial coverage.

“This would be the wrong time to start following local news,” she said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.