Death Urged for Deputy Who Killed 2
A jury recommended Tuesday that a former Kern County sheriff’s deputy die in the gas chamber for the murder of two prostitutes.
A Kern County Superior Court jury agreed on the death penalty after deliberating nearly a day in the penalty phase of David Keith Rogers’ trial.
Rogers showed little emotion as the verdict was read, but his wife, Jo, visibly shook as she struggled for composure in the courtroom gallery.
Formal sentencing before Judge Gerald K. Davis is scheduled for April 26.
On March 16, the jury found Rogers guilty of first-degree murder in the shooting death of Tracie Joanna Clark, 15, whose body was found Feb. 8, 1987. The jury had also found Rogers guilty of second-degree murder in the Feb. 21, 1986, shooting of 21-year-old Jeanine Benetende.
Clark, who was pregnant at the time of her death, was found by rabbit hunters in the Arvin-Edison Canal near the spot where Benetende’s body was found a year earlier.
Detectives have said that Rogers admitted shooting Clark in an argument over the amount due for a sex act. Rogers has claimed that he did not kill Benetende, but ballistics tests show both women were shot with the same gun.
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