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‘Stand Your Ground’ Motion Denied For Molino Mom Accused Of Killing Husband
September 22, 2014
An Escambia County judge has rejected a Molino mom’s “stand your ground” defense in the murder of her husband.
Judge Linda Nobles refused to dismiss the second degree murder case against 44-year old Rebecca A. Rogers for allegedly shooting her husband, 42-year old Jason Lee Rogers in August 2013. Her attorneys made a motion to dismiss the case, saying Rogers acted within the parameters of Florida’s self-defense “stand your ground” law. Nobles denied that motion.
“She can still raise the stand your ground defense before the jury,” State Attorney Bill Eddins said. “We will continue to prosecute the case and move forward.”
Rebecca Rogers allegedly shot her husband twice in the back and once in the head inside the couple’s home in the 3400 block of Highway 29 in Molino. She told a 911 dispatcher that her husband choked her and then she shot him.
Deputies arrived to find Rebecca Rogers standing outside the home. They found Jason Rogers lying unconscious in the back bedroom of the home on his stomach with what appeared to be a gunshot to his head. According to the report, he also suffered two other gunshot wounds to the back. He died at a local hospital about two days later.
The couple had four daughters, one of which testified last year at a preliminary hearing that her father had several guns in the home. “As far as I know, he was going to get them and he was…my mom believed he was going to kill her. So, she was protecting herself,” she said.
Rogers remains free on a $300,000 bond.
Comments
20 Responses to “‘Stand Your Ground’ Motion Denied For Molino Mom Accused Of Killing Husband”
@ bartenter i too have been threw extremly bad abuse but i did walk away if she knew he was going 4 a gun hit him in the leg butt or something to remind him next time or just get out of it all together theres help ovt there was he doing any kinda drugs
Stay strong love you becca and girls
I have worked in domestic violence for over 10-years, and two things prove true:
1) domestic violence goes both ways
2) when a person truly wants out they get out, they get out of the house, out of the neightborhood, out of the town, out of the state, out of the relationship……this happens ONLY when they truly want out.
REGARDING:
“Man, a lot of you people don’t understand. Just because his back was turned doesn’t mean a thing. He would have heard her trying to get out and would have stopped her before she could. I have personally been in those situations. A mean man is a cunning, manipulative, and real planner.”
Are you sure you and she were in the same situation?
Maybe you were but do you KNOW? Maybe most men who get shot in the back had it coming, but should we assume all do?
If you aren’t sure, trust the jury.
David for reasonable doubt
not wild assumptions
Even if u leave a situtation like that they will come after u. I’ve been there. Its harder to get away then what people think. So unless u know the back ground and all the facts don’t judge.
Man, a lot of you people don’t understand. Just because his back was turned doesn’t mean a thing. He would have heard her trying to get out and would have stopped her before she could. I have personally been in those situations. A mean man is a cunning, manipulative, and real planner. Let’s say she turned to run….he hears and turns, too, then catches her before she can get out. Busts her head, knocks her out, or whatever…guess she could have waited till he was on her then shoot…but still, unless you have been in this position it is not fair to judge her. If she waited till he was in arms reach, games over. She had to do what she had to do. Sometimes people who haven’t been in this position really don’t understand or know how to feel the fear this woman must have been in to shoot him,, back or otherwise.
The outcome of the trial will depend on whether she was a battered wife. I doubt anybody (myself included) commenting on this forum has the necessary insight into this family’s private life. If her defense team can prove she was battered by her husbamd that fateful night or on previous occasions, she should be acquitted regardless how and how many times he was shot. If he was a decent man that treated her with respect she should be going to jail.
I have yet to read exactly what happened. Did she shoot him in the back THEN in the head? Or vice versa? Which shot(s) actually killed him? There are a lot of questions that must be answered before Ms. Rogers can be convicted. All these “she [whether it is Rogers or Judge Nobles] should have” statements are baseless. Unless you are privy to ALL the facts, there is nothing intelligent that can be said.
hawghead has it pretty much right on. SYG only gives you the right to meet force with equal force. If someones back is turned to you, and you are not under direct threat of death or seriously bodily harm at the time you shoot them, then SYG is not going to fly. If his back was turned, then at attempt to flee would have been the right thing to do, especially if you have a firearm in your hand. It is hard to see a threat of seriously bodily harm or death if his back was turned to the shooter. There is also a possible issue of excessive force with two shots to the back and one to the head. I can definitely see, from the information presented, why the Judge would have thrown out the SYG Defense. All I can say is good luck in Court, but I do not think it looks good. Especially if they found no firearm where he was searching in the closet. Facts will come out in court….
I agree with 429SCJ, the jury will weigh all the evidence and reach a verdict. We aren’t in a position to do that just reading the news reports.
What if she was in a room away from the door when he turned his back? Could she still have fled? Only one person knows the truth of what really happened here. .All the rest is merely speculation and pipe dreams.
I’m with Bartender. Unless you have been in a domestic violence (long term or short – doesn’t matter) situation, you don’t know WHAT you would do. She may have been terrified that he was going to come after her and shoot her to death, so she stopped him before he could. I recall telling my former husband that he had to go to sleep sometime as I brandished a baseball bat at him to keep him away. I am an educated, professional woman, but I went through that hell for far too long before I got out of it. The physical abuse stopped because he became afraid of me after the baseball bat incident. The emotional abuse, well, that was something else. I finally got it together enough to take the kids and leave. Life is good now – but I learned a valuable lesson during that time. Don’t judge – you have NO idea what it’s like unless you’ve gone through it.
The jury will hear the facts and opinions and decide a verdict.. Then justice will have been served.
Sounds like he was digging for the gun she had in her hands. If that was the only gun, that wasn’t a stand your ground situation and the judge could see that fact.
They did not have four daughters together. They had three the fourth is hers from another man. And as a step daughter will do she is siding and defending her mother. Curious how she can testify to anything that may or may not have happened because she was not home when her mother MURDERED Jason. I hope she gets life. And people will say what about the children? She was not thinking of the children when she shot their father in cold blood. I honestly think he had finally had enough of her abuse and craziness and told her it was over. I bet he was getting the bag from the closet to put his clothes in like he has done many many times so he could leave her for good. RIP JLR. You are truly missed.
The stand your ground law only gives you the right to use deadly force if you feel your life is danger. If he turned his back on her then she should have fled. By staying there and shooting him in the back she forfeited her rights under the stand your ground law.
some people are quick to judge because they never been through it. I went through abuse ten years and if I had a gun at the time he pulled me in the house by my hair and choke me ,oh yea I would have kill him to. so ashame to tell my family and scared to death you sit and sit and pray for your life. I did cut him one time and when I got away I took a beating again.the only way I got out of it my son inlaw found out and beat the hell out of him and got him out of my house.so yes you people think its so fun to judge.unless you been through it don’t be so hard on her to think she did it on purpose.if her kids stand behind her than shes not guilty. let her go.
She shot him in the back while he was digging in the closet to find a gun that was in there.
If it was self defense why would she have shot him in the back???? I am glad the judge denied it.
She should of just left she did to him what she didnt want done to her if it was that bad leave oh it was the case of ~but i love him~ shes not god only god has that power. another case of ~the war of the roses~