Mr. Eric Rogers is a sexual predator who began preying on his nephew when he was 6 years old. He then moved on to three other teens, killing two of them.
Mr. Rogers appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn his two life sentences based on insufficient evidence and uncorroborated statements from witnesses.
But on Monday the top court rejected the DeKalb County man’s appeal and upheld his convictions and two consecutive life sentences.
Mr. Rogers was convicted in 2010 in the two cold case murders that eventually broke in 2002.
“Eric Rogers is a sexual predator who, using the same methodology, sexually abused and murdered or attempted to murder available young black males from 1980 through 2000, when an uninterrupted span of imprisonment finally ended Rogers’ pattern of criminal conduct,” prosecutors said.
Mr. Rogers was 19 years old when he began sexually abusing his 6-year-old nephew. The abuse continued until the boy was 12, resumed when he was 15 and ceased when he was 18, according to court records.
In 1991, Mr. Rogers met 15-year-old Mark Birmingham, who lived a block from his house. The teen came from a poor family and Mr. Rogers, then 30, bought him clothes, expensive tennis shoes and haircuts.
Mr. Rogers began taking Birmingham into his basement where he sexually abused the teen and eventually started having anal sex with him, according to the records.
Mr. Rogers’ nephew would later testify that he witnessed some of these sexual acts. After a while, Birmingham had “had enough” of Mr. Rogers’ sexual abuse, and then he disappeared, according to prosecutors.
Mr. Rogers started showing people a letter, supposedly written by Birmingham, that stated the teenager had “left.” But according to prosecutors, Mr. Rogers shot the teen in the chest with a .380 handgun that he regularly carried around in a fanny pack.
He later took his nephew into the woods near his DeKalb County home where Birmingham’s bloated body lay and had his nephew help bury the teen’s body, according to records. The nephew, by then 17, did not tell anyone what his uncle had done. He later testified he was scared of his uncle and what would happen.
In 1994, Mr. Rogers met 18-year-old Darnell Patterson, who had left his small town in Alabama to attend DeVry Institute in DeKalb County. Mr. Rogers, who was also a DeVry student, gave him rides to school, took him to shoot pool and bought him haircuts and “weed.”
Mr. Rogers eventually began having sex with Mr. Patterson in his basement where he took pornographic photos of the teen and created a slide show for his computer. Mr. Patterson disappeared in 1995, and Mr. Rogers moved to Mississippi where he told a friend, Mr. Richard Husband, that he shot him in the back of the head.” Patterson’s body was never found.
In 2000, Mr. Rogers befriended 18-year-old Benjie Keys while living in Mississippi. They met in the cafeteria of Howard Industries in Laurel where they both worked. Mr. Keys had little money, and Mr. Rogers offered to buy him an expensive car stereo system and then invited him to his home to see it.
When Mr. Keys asked Mr. Rogers about a missing person’s flyer about Darnell Patterson that he kept framed in his home, Mr. Rogers hit the teen in the head with a sledge hammer, pulled out a .380 handgun and hit him in the mouth, breaking two of his teeth.
He then dragged the 18-year-old into the bathroom, handcuffed him to a pipe in the wall, and while videotaping it, performed oral sex on him.
After leaving Mr. Keys in the bathroom all weekend, Mr. Rogers released him and told him he was going to take him into the woods and kill him.
Once in the woods, Mr. Keys said he pleaded for his life and got Mr. Rogers to change his mind. After Mr. Keys escaped, he reported the attack to police. Mr. Rogers was subsequently arrested, convicted of aggravated assault and sent to prison.
While there, in 2002, Mr. Rogers’ grown nephew went to police and led them to the wooded spot behind Mr. Rogers’ DeKalb County house where he had buried Mark Birmingham’s body.
Police then obtained a search warrant for Mr. Rogers’ Mississippi home where they recovered photos of Birmingham and Patterson, as well as the pornographic slide show of Patterson on Mr. Rogers’ computer. They found Patterson’s school books in a locker.
In 2010, a DeKalb County jury convicted Rogers of the murders of Darnell Patterson and Mark Birmingham, and he was sentenced to two life prison terms, to be served one after the other.
Mr. Rogers appealed to the state Supreme Court, arguing that the trial court made eight errors, including that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. In particular, he argued, venue – or the location of the crime – was never proved in the alleged murder of Darnell Patterson.
The high court disagreed with all eight arguments.
To get updates and to read more local news stories, go to: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Atlanta-Public-Safety-Examiner/195837070474348#!/pages/Atlanta-Public-Safety-Examiner/195837070474348?sk=wall
Comments