State v. Rogers

836 P.2d 1308, 313 Or. 356, 1992 Ore. LEXIS 134
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 9, 1992
DocketCC 88-355, 88-356, 88-357, 88-358, 88-359, 88-360; SC S36344
StatusPublished
Cited by88 cases

This text of 836 P.2d 1308 (State v. Rogers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Rogers, 836 P.2d 1308, 313 Or. 356, 1992 Ore. LEXIS 134 (Or. 1992).

Opinions

[358]*358PETERSON, J.

Defendant appeals his convictions of 13 counts of aggravated murder and his sentence of death for causing the deaths of six women. Defendant challenges both the guilt and penalty phases of his trial. Because we conclude that no reversible error was committed in the guilt phase, we affirm defendant’s convictions for aggravated murder. However, under this court’s decision in State v. Wagner, 309 Or 5, 786 P2d 93, cert den 111 S Ct212 (1990) (Wagner II), defendant is entitled to a new penalty-phase proceeding.

SUMMARY OF FACTS

The jury found defendant guilty. We therefore set forth the facts in the light most favorable to the state. State v. Rose, 311 Or 274, 276, 810 P2d 839 (1991).

On August 31,1987, a hunter discovered a woman’s body underneath some matted ferns in the Molalla Forest. He called the police and later took them to the body. Over the course of the following week, the bodies of six more women were found in the same general area. All the bodies were naked and in various stages of decomposition. Six of the seven women were identified; the seventh remains unidentified.

The State Medical Examiner performed autopsies and determined the cause of death of each of the women to be homicidal violence of an undetermined type. The medical examiner estimated that the bodies had been in the forest from one to three months. Because of the decomposition of the bodies, the medical examiner could not rule out strangulation as a cause of death and could not determine whether the various wounds to the victims had been inflicted before or after death. The medical examiner described the injuries to each identified victim as follows:

(1) Gyles: Six stab wounds to the lower back. The bone of one lower leg had been sawed through, and the foot had been sawed at ankle level.

(2) Mock: Deep stab wounds to the lower back region. Both feet had been sawed off at the ankle and were found underneath the body. There were multiple saw marks on the right thigh bone just above the knee.

[359]*359(3) Cervantes: Abdomen split open with sharp object from below the breast bone to the pubic area. The right nipple appeared to have been cut, and the left nipple had been cut and removed.

(4) DeVore: The body was totally skeletonized. The upper back revealed stabbing injuries.

(5) Adams: There were stab wounds to the back, and the right foot had been severed at the ankle.' The hands were bound by a dog collar with the arms above the head when the body was found.

(6) Hodges: The remains were scattered by animals. The legs below the knees were not found. The lower back revealed stabbing injuries.

At the site where the bodies were found, officers found various items. Approximately 38 miniature bottles of a particular brand of vodka, a cardboard sleeve that would hold 10 miniature vodka bottles, and 34 orange juice containers were found at the crime scene. A knife with human tissue on it was found near two of the bodies. Additionally, investigators found several items that had been tied into knots, including pantyhose, shoelaces, rope, and a cloth. They also found a dog collar, in addition to the one that was binding Adams’ hands, and pieces of wire.

Defendant already was in police custody as a suspect in another killing when the seven bodies were found in the Molalla Forest. In that other killing, which had occurred in the early morning hours of August 7, 1987, the victim was Jennifer Smith, a prostitute. Defendant had picked up Smith in Portland and had driven with her to a 7-Eleven store and then to the parking lot of a Denny’s restaurant on McLoughlin Boulevard in Clackamas County. Defendant asked that Smith allow him to tie her up so that he could massage her and masturbate. Smith removed her clothes. Defendant then tied her with shoelaces that he had in his pickup truck. Smith was tied so that she was on her knees facing the back of the seat with her hands and feet tied behind her against the dashboard.

At about 2:30 or 3 a.m. on the morning of August 7, several witnesses near the Denny’s parking lot heard a [360]*360woman screaming. One of the witnesses ran toward the source of the screams, but as he got closer, the screams stopped. The witness saw defendant standing between Smith’s legs. Smith was naked and bleeding and she was having difficulty breathing. The witness yelled at defendant, and defendant ran from the parking lot, carrying a knife. Defendant ran around and behind a nearby building, where he dropped the knife. He then ran back to his pickup truck, which was parked about 45 feet from where Smith was lying, and drove away. Another Denny’s customer followed defendant and obtained his license plate number.

Defendant drove to his small engine repair shop in Woodburn. There was blood all over the passenger side of his truck. He attempted to wash off the blood with a shop rag and sponge. He burned his blood-soaked clothing and a tennis shoe and some clothing belonging to Smith in a wood stove in the shop. The police arrived at defendant’s shop at 5:35 a.m. Defendant’s pickup truck was parked in front and its radiator was still warm. The police saw blood in front of the shop door. Defendant, who was inside the shop, was arrested. He had a strong odor of alcohol and told a detective that he had “bought some miniatures at the liquor store.” Defendant had purchased a 10-pack of vodka miniatures — the same brand of vodka as the bottles found at the Molalla Forest crime scene — from the Woodburn liquor store the previous evening.

Smith bled to death from stab wounds to her chest. She also had stab wounds in her abdomen, in her breasts and nipples, and a complex v-shaped stab wound on her back. The stab wounds were consistent with the knife with which defendant fled and which was found behind the nearby building around which defendant ran. Smith had numerous defensive injuries to her hands and arms, and her wrists showed recent bruises that could have been caused by the knotted shoelaces that defendant had used to bind her.

Near the Denny’s parking lot, the police recovered the knife that defendant had dropped while running. That knife was the same model as the knife later found at the Molalla Forest crime scene. The police found knotted shoelaces, one of Smith’s tennis shoes, and most of Smith’s clothing near where defendant’s pickup truck had been [361]*361parked. They also seized evidence from defendant’s shop and pickup truck. From his shop, the police seized a hacksaw that could have caused the saw marks on the legs of some of the Molalla Forest victims. In the ashes of the shop’s wood stove, the police found a shoe shank, eyelets, and swivels from Smith’s other tennis shoe; shoe shanks from two other pairs of shoes; shoe eyes; shoe nails; burned and partially burned fabric; numerous brassiere parts; snap fasteners; decorative metal parts and clothing studs from women’s clothing, including star-shaped studs later identified as studs from Adams’ pants; buttons; numerous zipper parts; earring pieces; and belt buckles. The police also seized defendant’s boots, which had blood stains on them.

In defendant’s truck, the police found a bungi cord, a green pull tab from a juice container similar to the containers later found at the Molalla Forest crime scene, numerous blood stains, and several human hairs. Some of the blood stains found were made by type O blood of the same subtype as Smith’s blood.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
836 P.2d 1308, 313 Or. 356, 1992 Ore. LEXIS 134, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-rogers-or-1992.