Sledgehammer attack trial kicks off with bloody testimony
A Lincolnshire Police sergeant told a Lake County jury he saw “two bodies covered in blood” when he glanced into the master bedroom of a home on May 19, 2003.
Sgt. James Hanley said he entered the room moments later and thought both people on the bed were dead.
“There was blood all over the two bodies, on portions of the floor and the bed,” Hanley said at the start of testimony Wednesday in the trial of 56-year-old Sandra Rogers, formerly of Mundelein.
Rogers has been incarcerated for nearly 10 years after being arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and home invasion for the attack on her ex-husband, Rick Rogers, and his new wife, Angela Gloria.
She was sentenced to 30 years in prison after taking a 2004 plea bargain. However, that deal was thrown out last year and Rogers was awarded a trial after Lake County Judge John Phillips ruled she was tricked into admitting her role in the crime.
On the witness stand Wednesday, Hanley described in detail the master bedroom where Rogers and Gloria were attacked about 5 a.m. He said Gloria was so bloody he didn't realize she was alive until she moved her hand. While he sat with Gloria and waited for paramedics to arrive, Rick Rogers awoke with a three-inch gash on the side of his head.
“There was so much blood,” Hanley explained. “(Medical technicians) tried to tend to him, but he became combative ... it took six people to hold him down.”
Prosecutors contend Sandra Rogers swung the sledgehammer that struck both victims, but defense attorneys claim the boyfriend of Sandra Rogers' then-teenage daughter, Robin, carried out the attack.
The boyfriend, Jonathon McMeekin, is serving a 17-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in the attack. He is expected to testify against Rogers later this week.