PLEASE CONTACT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL @ aiusaso@aiusa.org AND GOVERNOR BOBBY JINDAL
P.O. BOX 94304
BATON ROUGE, LA 70804-9304 AND ASK THEM TO LOOK INTO THIS CASE THE MORE THE BETTER. THANK YOU AND BE BLESSED
Please keep him in your prayers.
Rogers LaCaze was sentenced to death at 18 for a crime he did not commit. The City of New Orleans took less that 6 months to Wrongfully Convict Rogers. This the fastes time a person facing 3 first degree murders and a death sentence has ever been convicted. Even the Officer who admits to doing the killing had a longer time before being convicted. The injustice served in his case is Grave Deep.
Here are a few facts:
Rogers's transcripts have been missing since his trial. By law he is would not be able to have a fair appeal because of this.
During the murder investigation there was a hair found on one of the bodies. To this day the hair has never been tested against Rogers hair. Now the D/A is saying that they cannot find the hair that could prove his innocence.
In 1998 three years after the crimes Adam Frank (The Brother Of then officer Antoinette Frank)
was arrested in Rayville, Louisiana bragging about killing a police officer in New Orleans and carrying the 9mm Beretta alleged to have been used in the killings on March 4, 1995 that Rogers have spent 16 years of his life on death row for.
Adam was arrested for attacking a deputy. This is when money order receipts addressed to Antoinette Frank at Louisiana Correctional Institute for women were found in his vehicle
Rogers' case was tried before a judge that worked with the state to withhold critical evidence. The very gun Adam was arrested with the state said over and over that this was the murder weapon. And guess where this gun came from? It had been given to Antoinette Frank by non other that Judge Marullo Rogers trial Judge. He signed an order placing the gun in her hands, and boldly said he would do it again.
Neather the DA or the judge decided to inform Rogers' Attorney that Antoinette was in possession of the 9mm Beretta the same caliber used in the murders.
The DA also withheld evidence that showed that Adam, Antoinette, and Officer Williams had recently had a dispute, resulting in Antoinette threatening officer Williams life. The DA also withheld statements made to the police of surviving witnesses, made the night of the crime. These include proof that Rogers made a series of unanswered phone calls to Antoinette Frank's cell phone at the time the murders were taking place. Had he been involved in the robbery and murders there would have not been time or the need for him to place these calls.
The DA and Judge Marullo were not the only ones to blame for this unjust conviction. The police investigating the murders the night they were committed did a abysmal job of securing the crime scene, documenting it through photographs, collecting pertinent evidence, and processing and preserving the evidence. the end result is that key evidence that could have been used to establish and prosecute the true killer in this case has been forever lost.
Rogers trial lawyer was seen asleep in court during the trial. He had never represented a defendant in a capital case and did not qualify to represent a capital defendant under state stand standards for capital representation. He sought out Rogers business in this high-profile case and accepted and old car, in advance, as a full payment for his representation. Prior to trial , defense counsel filed a grand total of three motions on behalf of his client. He did not do an investigation on his case and never hired investigators, in which Rogers was entitled to have.
Jury selection :
Rogers had a total of 3 officers on his jury.
including a woman that was at work the night the 911 call came in.
so you tell me how can he have ever gotten a fair trial ?!