Daughter's poems can be used in Sandra Rogers' trial, judge rules
A teenage girl's writings that she wanted her father dead can be used in court to prove her mother was not involved in the attack on the man nearly a decade ago.
Lake County Judge John Phillips said defense attorneys for Sandra D. Rogers, 56, are allowed to introduce two poems written in a journal by her then-14-year-old daughter that clearly state she wanted to see Rick Rogers dead.
Phillips told defense attorney Gillian Gosch she must prove in court that Robin Rogers wrote the poems, entitled “Daddy Dearest” and “Ode to my Father”.
Sandra Rogers' trial on attempted murder charges is scheduled to start Jan. 28.
Gosch said the poems clearly show how much Robin Rogers, “hated her father and wanted him to die.”
“It's relevant to the defense theory of what took place in this case,” Gosch argued Thursday. “Lo and behold, (Rick Rogers) wakes up and, in his room, was a man standing over him trying to kill him.”
Sandra Rogers has been incarcerated since 2004 after she was accused and charged with using a sledgehammer to attack her ex-husband and his wife, Angela Gloria, with the help of Robin Roger's 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Jonathon McMeekin.
Both victims survived the attack.
Sandra Rogers has long maintained her innocence in the attack, but McMeekin pleaded guilty to attempted murder and is in prison. He was scheduled to testify against Sandra Rogers had the case gone to trial in 2004, but Sandra Rogers cut a plea deal with prosecutors and she was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
However, evidence detrimental to the case was never shared with Rogers' defense attorneys, prompting Phillips to wipe out the plea agreement in May. The case was reset to where it ended in 2004.
On Tuesday, Gosch announced she would accuse Robin Rogers of being the accomplice involved in the attack, and they would introduce her writings into evidence.
Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Danielle Pascucci argued the poems are merely the ramblings of a 14-year-old girl who was forced to live under the strict rules of her father after spending the previous parts of her life following the lackadaisical rules provided by her mother.
“The poems were written shortly after she moved in with her father, and forced to live in a dramatically different situation than she was with her mother,” Pascucci said. “She was forced to do homework, and chores, and listen to her parents, as opposed to sleeping in a bed with her 17-year-old boyfriend.”