Co-defendant in septuple homicide seeks to bar death penalty

Jun. 21—One of two Hartselle men charged with capital murder in the 2020 slayings of seven people recently filed several motions seeking to shield himself from the death penalty and limit victim impact testimony.

Frederic Allen Rogers, 26, and his alleged accomplice, John Michael Legg, 23, belonged to a motorcycle gang called "Seven Deadly Sins" when they were invited to a drug house in Valhermoso Springs for a dinner party on June 4, 2020, according to preliminary hearing testimony from an FBI special agent.

There, Rogers "cased" the house and its occupants before opening fire, according to testimony. In a written statement, he said he killed Jeremy Roberts, 31, of Athens, James Wayne Benford, 22, of Decatur, William Zane Hodgin, 18, of Somerville, and Roger Lee Jones Jr., 20, of Decatur, at a house on Talucah Road. The statement said Legg fatally shot three women at the residence: Tammy England Muzzey, 45, Emily Brooke Payne, 21, and Dakota Green, 17, of Valhermoso Springs.

Both Rogers and Legg have pleaded not guilty by reason of mental illness or defect.

Last Friday, Morgan County District Attorney Scott Anderson requested a continuance in the murder case against former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette in part because of Rogers' upcoming jury trial on Aug. 14. Anderson described Rogers' case as one of "the more complex capital murder cases pending."

The State notified Rogers on April 30 that it will seek the death penalty for him if convicted. Legg had not received a similar notification as of Thursday; however, Anderson told The Decatur Daily in 2021 that his office would seek the death penalty for both defendants.

Assistant DA Garrick Vickery listed four aggravating factors in Rogers' alleged crime as potential justification for the death penalty.

"The capital offense was especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel compared to other capital offenses," Vickery wrote. The other three aggravating factors, according to the prosecution, include committing the offense while in the commission of another crime, intentionally causing the death of two or more people by one act, and killing a person as part of a series of intentional killings.

Court records show no trial date yet scheduled for Legg. Rogers is scheduled for a status conference before Circuit Judge Stephen Brown on June 24.

Rogers' attorney, J. Brent Burney, last Friday filed several motions on behalf of his client, including three that questioned the constitutionality of the way the death penalty is handled in Alabama.

Alabama law outlines 21 circumstances that upgrade a murder charge to a capital murder charge. For example, murder during a first-degree robbery or murder of a law enforcement officer results in a capital murder charge.

Citing U.S. Supreme Court case law, Burney argued that capital statutes must narrow the class of murderers subject to capital punishment. He said Alabama law fails to do so.

"Alabama courts have construed the term 'burglary' such that any murder committed inside a building can be considered a capital offense," Burney wrote. He said two-thirds of Alabama's death sentences involve robbery/murder. "The frequency with which this overly broad aggravating circumstance is applied reflects its inability to meaningfully narrow as the Constitution requires."

According to Rogers' indictment, the defendants were in the process of stealing the victims' cellphones during the killings.

Calling the Alabama statute "unconstitutionally overbroad," Burney petitioned the court to bar the imposition of the death penalty in Rogers' case.

In a second petition to bar the death penalty, also filed last Friday, Burney argued that Alabama's "proportionality review" process — designed to safeguard against excessive or disproportionate death sentences — is superficial.

"To satisfy the Constitution, meaningful proportionality review must include comparisons between the appellant's case and factually similar cases in which both death sentences and life sentences were imposed," Burney wrote. "Alabama courts do not consider unique individual circumstances and do not compare the case under review with similar cases where the defendants were not sentenced to death."

Burney also petitioned the court to prohibit the death penalty absent a unanimous jury sentencing verdict. Alabama is one of five states that allow imposition of the death penalty without a unanimous jury verdict — at least 10 of the 12 jurors must agree — in favor of death, according to Burney.

Another motion on behalf of Rogers asks the court to prohibit the State from introducing "improper" victim impact testimony and to instruct the jury on how they should consider such testimony.

"There are seven victims in this case, and the cumulative effect of victim impact statements from seven families has the potential to inflame the jury's passions to make a sentencing decision based on caprice, emotion, and sympathy for the families, rather than inform its decision-making on reason," Burney wrote.

Burney argued that the State should only be allowed to use limited victim impact testimony from victims' immediate family members. He also asked the court to prohibit victims' family members from sitting at the prosecutor's table.

Finally, Burney asked the court to caution the jury against inflamed passions should they be shown any "gruesome or bloody photographs of the crime scene."

— david.gambino@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2438.