Rogers Jr. guilty

PALMER — It took a jury all of an afternoon to decide on a verdict for Christopher Erin Rogers Jr. — guilty on all counts.

“When prosecutors hear guilty verdicts, that’s what they want to hear,” Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak said the verdict was announced Thursday evening. “I’ve been in Palmer for 10 years prosecuting and I can say that this is the worst murder I’ve seen.”

Rogers had little reaction to hearing the verdict, sitting stoically in a blue button-down shirt and slacks, at times whispering with his attorney Craig Condie, who later declined comment.

Rogers Jr., 29, had been on trial for the past week before Superior Court Judge Vanessa White. The jury of eight men and four women convicted him of first-degree murder, first-degree attempted murder, vehicle theft and animal cruelty in the Dec. 2, 2007 machete slaying of his father, Christopher Erin Rogers Sr., and the brutal wounding of his father’s fiancée, Elann Moren. Rogers faces more than 99 years in prison and is set to receive his sentence March 24, 2009. The maximum sentence for first-degree murder is 99 years in prison.

In a trial set for Jan. 20 in Anchorage, Rogers faces 10 more charges, also including murder. According to police, after leaving Palmer, he went to Anchorage and shot three people, killing Jason Wenger, 27.

Kalytiak said that his Palmer case was a difficult one, mostly because of the grisly subject matter.

“If there’s an act that deserves the label of murder in the first degree and attempted murder in the first degree, this is it,” he said.

That was precisely the issue as attorneys gave their closing arguments earlier in the day.

Rogers’ other attorney, John Richard, was not in attendance for the verdict, but he argued earlier in the day that the jury couldn’t know what was in Rogers’ mind and therefore couldn’t say he had formed the intent to kill Moren and his father — an essential element of a first-degree murder or attempted murder. Richard argued instead for a second-degree murder conviction for the killing of Rogers Sr. and an assault conviction for the attack on Moren.

“I’ve never said anything other than it’s a horrible, horrible thing,” Richard said of the attack. “The state wants to hold Erin Rogers to a higher level of responsibility than they can demonstrate.”

Kalytiak disagreed. He said Rogers’ intent was proven by numerous pieces of evidence — chief among them Rogers’ statements to police and the amount of time he kept up his attack.

“Every time that machete was swung and every time it made contact with a human body is continuing evidence of his intent,” Kalytiak said.

For his part, Richard urged the jury to disregard Rogers Jr.’s statement to police, in which he says he has no remorse for the attack and that he attacked Moren and his father because he hated them.

Richard pointed to inconsistencies in what Rogers told authorities, saying he changed his story during the interview. He also pointed to testimony from other witnesses, all of whom said Rogers had a good relationship with Moren and his father.

Kalytiak urged the jury members to consider what amount of mercy Rogers showed his victims and then ask how much mercy he deserved from them.

“Does it take a lot of guts to do this?” Kalytiak asked the jury. “Anybody in this room can machete someone while they’re sleeping.”

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