State of New Jersey v. Michael Rogers

New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division·Decided September 3, 2026·No. A-1404-23·Unpublished

Opinion

NOT FOR PUBLICATION WITHOUT THE APPROVAL OF THE APPELLATE DIVISION This opinion shall not "constitute precedent or be binding upon any court ." Although it is posted on the internet, this opinion is binding only on the parties in the case and its use in other cases is limited . R. 1:36-3.

SUPERIOR COURT OF NEW JERSEY APPELLATE DIVISION

DOCKET NO. A-1404-23

STATE OF NEW JERSEY, Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

MICHAEL ROGERS, a/k/a MICHEAL ROGERS and MICHAEL RODGERS,

Defendant-Appellant.

Submitted March 3, 2026 – Decided September 3, 2026

Before Judges Gooden Brown and Torregrossa-

O'Connor.

On appeal from the Superior Court of New Jersey, Law Division, Union County, Indictment No. 21-08-0534.

Jennifer N. Sellitti, Public Defender, attorney for appellant (Marcia Blum, Assistant Deputy Public Defender, of counsel and on the briefs).

William A. Daniel, Union County Prosecutor, attorney for respondent (Milton S. Leibowitz, Assistant Prosecutor, of counsel and on the brief).

PER CURIAM Following a jury trial, defendant Michael Rogers was convicted of murder and weapons offenses and sentenced to an aggregate term of sixty years in prison, subject to the No Early Release Act (NERA), N.J.S.A. 2C:43-7.2. The charges stemmed from the fatal shooting of Antwoine Thompson while he was seated in the driver's seat of a parked car. The State's primary evidence was surveillance footage capturing the incident, an undated photo posted on defendant's girlfriend's Facebook page depicting defendant wearing a sweatshirt resembling the one worn by the suspect on the surveillance video, and cell phone data. Fingerprint and DNA evidence adduced at trial either excluded defendant or was inconclusive. Defendant was arrested seven weeks after the homicide.

On appeal, defendant raises the following Points for our consideration:

POINT I

THE COURT ERRED IN ADMITTING AN UNDATED PHOTOGRAPH DEPICTING DEFENDANT IN A SWEATSHIRT RESEMBLING THE ONE WORN BY THE SUSPECT.

POINT II

THE COURT ERRED IN FAILING TO FIND THAT THE STATE VIOLATED THE SEQUESTRATION ORDER, AND CONSEQUENTLY, IN FAILING TO GRANT A MISTRIAL OR ANY OTHER REMEDY.

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POINT III

THE MATTER MUST BE REMANDED FOR A NEW SENTENCING HEARING BECAUSE DEFENDANT WAS DENIED HIS RIGHT OF ALLOCUTION.

POINT IV

THE MATTER MUST BE REMANDED FOR A NEW SENTENCING HEARING BECAUSE THE COURT MISUNDERSTOOD THE SENTENCE FOR MURDER, FAILED TO GIVE WEIGHT TO DEFENDANT'S YOUTH UNDER MITIGATING FACTOR [FOURTEEN] OR HIS MENTAL HEALTH UNDER MITIGATING FACTOR [FOUR], AND IS EXCESSIVE.

A. The Court Erred In Assigning A Presumptive Term For Murder.

B. The Court Failed To Give Any Weight To [Defendant's] Youth Under Mitigating Factor [Fourteen].

C. The Court Failed To Find Mitigating Factor [Four].

D. Individually And Cumulatively, The Sentencing Errors Warrant A Remand For Resentencing.

POINT V

THE RESENTENCING HEARING SHOULD BE HELD BEFORE A DIFFERENT JUDGE BECAUSE THE TRIAL JUDGE DID NOT FIND DEFENDANT'S YOUTH UNDER MITIGATING FACTOR [FOURTEEN] OR HIS MENTAL IMPAIRMENTS

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UNDER MITIGATING FACTOR [FOUR] DESPITE COMPETENT, CREDIBLE EVIDENCE IN THE RECORD SUPPORTING BOTH FACTORS.

Based on our review of the record and the applicable legal principles, we affirm the convictions, but agree the matter must be remanded for resentencing because defendant was not afforded his right of allocution.

I.

Defendant was charged in a three-count Union County indictment with first-degree murder, N.J.S.A. 2C:11-3(a)(1) and/or (2) (count one); second- degree unlawful possession of a handgun, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-5(b)(1) (count two); and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, N.J.S.A. 2C:39-4(a)(1) (count three). We summarize the facts from the evidence presented at the nine-day trial that occurred between April 26 and May 16, 2023, during which the State presented eight civilian and ten law enforcement witnesses. Defendant elected not to testify and produced no witnesses.

Elizabeth Police Officer Daniel Mooney testified that at approximately 2:18 p.m. on April 26, 2021, he was dispatched to Second Street in downtown Elizabeth on a report of a shooting. Upon arrival, he discovered the victim, later identified as Antwoine Thompson, "laying on the ground" just outside an open door of "a red Ford" vehicle. Mooney testified Thompson had been shot

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multiple times.

In a subsequent autopsy, forensic pathologist Junaid Shaikh determined Thompson sustained "six" gunshot wounds to "the chest," "left hand," "right lower extremity," "right thigh," and "left upper chest." According to Shaikh, there was "no evidence of close range firing" in any of the gunshot wounds and "two projectiles" were recovered during the autopsy. Union County Police Sergeant Matthew Schaible testified the two projectiles removed during the autopsy and the four found in Thompson's car came from the same gun.

Surveillance footage recovered from the scene followed a masked suspect wearing a black sweatshirt with Calvin Klein insignia and grey pants with a light-colored strip going down the legs. The suspect first entered a convenience store where he engaged in a transaction with the cashier and then left. As the suspect walked along the sidewalk, he approached a red sedan parallel parked on the street, pulled out a handgun, and shot through the passenger side window at Thompson, who was sitting in the driver's seat. Thompson exited the car and attempted to run away.

The shooter fled in a different direction, and surveillance footage tracked his path until he entered a house located on Pine Street. A different man dressed in a light-colored sweatsuit was depicted briefly exiting and then re-entering the

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same house. Several minutes later, a dark gray SUV pulled up in front of the house. A man dressed in the same clothing as the suspect but without the mask exited the house and entered the SUV.

Several occupants of the Pine Street residence testified for the State, including Paulette Jones and her son Raquan Moore. 1 Moore confirmed defendant, whom he considered "a little brother," had been at the house on April 26. He recounted calling defendant a Lyft 2 so defendant could get to "his father['s] house." Moore wore "gray sweatpants and [a] hoodie" that day, and remembered defendant was wearing "a mask."

The Lyft driver, Paul Matthew Piquero, "remember[ed] picking up a Lyft passenger" on Pine Street in Elizabeth on April 26. He recalled receiving a "ride request" at 2:25 p.m. and picking up the passenger "[t]en minutes after" in a 2019 grey Toyota Rav4. Piquero testified when he arrived at Pine Street, he was waived down by a "[d]ark skinned . . .[, p]retty tall . . . heavyset" man wearing "gray sweatpants and a gray sweater," who told Piquero, "[W]ait here, I will go

1 The police searched the house within hours of the shooting. They found a loaded gun in the possession of one of Moore's friends, but later released him upon determining the gun was not the murder weapon. 2 Moore referred to calling defendant an Uber. It was later revealed it was, in fact, a Lyft.

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get the actual guy that was going to go."

The man then "went inside the house" and "another gentleman" came out and got inside his car. The passenger, who was "dark skinned . . . [with] short hair . . . [and] was wearing . . . dark clothes" but "not wearing a mask," confirmed they were going to Newark, but then asked Piquero to make a "quick pit stop" "to grab clothes from his grandma's house." Piquero identified the passenger and the man who called the Lyft as the two men depicted in the Pine Street surveillance footage.

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