06 March 2022 :
Federal Court Grants New Trial to Mark Rogers
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has affirmed a Nevada district court’s grant of a new trial to death-row prisoner Mark Rogers, blasting the state for providing him with inexperienced counsel who lacked the knowledge and resources to competently defend a capital trial. In a 2-1 decision issued on February 14, 2022, the appeals panel upheld a September 23, 2019 ruling by District Court Judge Gloria M. Navarro holding that the public defender assigned to represent Rogers provided ineffective representation while attempting to present an insanity defense in the guilt phase of his 1981 death-penalty trial. Rogers was convicted and sentenced to death for the murders of Emery and Mary Strode and daughter Meriam Strode, 41, in the couple's home on December 3, 1980.
