Daughter denies role in sledgehammer attack
A tearful Robin Rogers recalled how she felt like she was in a horror movie the night she frantically dialed 9-1-1 from her father's blood-covered bedroom, minutes after he had been bludgeoned nearly 10 years ago.
However, the now-24-year-old woman also told a Lake County jury Friday that in the weeks before the attack, she had written a poem and a letter stating she hated her father — Rick Rogers — and wanted him dead.
“I was angry. I went from being able to do anything I wanted to not being able to do anything,” she said. “I wanted to be able to go out and do whatever I wanted.”
Robin Rogers resumed her testimony in the trial of her mother, Sandra Rogers, who is accused of assisting Robin Rogers' ex-boyfriend, Jonathon McMeekin, in the May 19, 2003 attack on Rick Rogers and his new wife, Angela Gloria. Both survived.
Sandra Rogers is charged with conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and home invasion, and has spent the last 10 years in prison after accepting a 2004 plea deal. She received a 30-year sentence. That deal was thrown out last year when Lake County Judge John Phillips ruled she was tricked into admitting her role in the crime, paving the way for the trial. She is in jail on a $4 million bond.
McMeekin is serving a 17-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in the attack. He is expected to testify against Sandra Rogers.
Prosecutors say Sandra Rogers struck Rick Rogers from behind with a sledgehammer after he had wrestled McMeekin to the ground. Rick Rogers testified Thursday he jumped on McMeekin after the ex-boyfriend hit Gloria in the doorway of their bedroom just before 5 a.m.
Defense attorneys contend Sandra Rogers was not the person who delivered the blow. They have said Robin Rogers assisted McMeekin in the crime.
Robin Rogers gave a stern “no” when asked if she was involved in the attack. But, she also admitted she was angry with her dad for forcing her to move in with him at the age of 14 after living with her mom and without rules for the previous six years.
She testified she wrote letters and poems about how she wanted her father dead, and that she had an argument with Gloria in the week before the attack. In the argument, which started after she was caught on the phone with McMeekin, an angel statue given to her by her grandmother was broken by Gloria.
Robin Rogers also said she would never act on any of those feelings, and even told McMeekin not to harm her dad when he offered to have Rick Rogers “taken care of.”
“I was angry but I still loved my family,” she told the jury.
She cried when she was shown a picture of the bedroom where the attack occurred, and when listening to the 9-1-1 call she made to police that night.
“I didn't know what was happening,” she said. “I didn't know if someone was going to come after me, come after my sister or come after (her younger brothers).”