Murder For Hire Case Dismissed by Judge, “The State Didn’t Prove their Case”
September 24th, 2021 by
The 2018 case charging former soccer sponsor Stephanie Hill Rogers for the solicitation to cause the death of her husband, former mayor Joe Rogers and his ex-wife began, Wednesday, in the Drew County Courthouse.
The state presented 2 witnesses, MPD detective Kenny Cox, and a former trainee of Stephanie Rogers, Mykayla Rawls. The state also played two audio clips of a conversations between Rogers and Rawls, before the day came to an end.
Thursday’s testimony begin at 9 AM, with the state adding one additional witness, another coworker of Rogers.
Thursday morning, at 9:45 AM, the state rested, followed by defense attorney Patrick Benca asking for a directed verdict, claiming that the state has not proven their case.
Basically, the motion to dismiss the case was based on the legal description of “solicitation“ and the fact that an agreement was not reached between Rogers and either of the other witnesses, that would cause any of them to believe that a deal had been reached that would lead to either party’s death.
It was clear during opening arguments that the definition of “solicitation“ was going to be one of the turning factors in the case.
Deputy prosecuting attorney Sandra Bradshaw asked the prospective jury panel, ““If it’s illegal to change a tire, and I ask you to change a tire for me, have a solicited you?”
Defense attorney Patrick Benca, during his turn to address to address the jury, asked “If it’s illegal to change a tire, can I still ask you about changing a tire, without asking you to change the tire for me?“
A lot of testimony took place during the two days about the relationship between the parties, but none of that ended up being relevant, since the directed verdict closed the case, before it went to the jury.
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