Attorney Tries to Stop Rogers’ Extradition to Florida

An attorney for accused serial killer Glen Rogers filed a motion Thursday in Madison Circuit Court trying to prevent his extradition to Florida, where he is wanted for trial on murder charges and faces a possible death penalty.

Rogers, a 33-year-old laborer captured after a high-speed chase in rural Kentucky in November, is also wanted in connection with slayings in Mississippi, Louisiana and California, where he allegedly killed a Santa Monica woman he picked up in a Van Nuys bar.

Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton granted Florida’s extradition request Jan. 26. Kentucky officials said Florida had the strongest case.

At the time, Madison public defender Ernie Lewis said he would appeal because he objected to having his client tried in Florida, which he called an “avid death penalty state.”

Lewis said that if Rogers had committed the crimes he is charged with, he did so because of brain damage and a metabolic disorder and thus does not deserve the death penalty.

In the appeal filed Thursday afternoon, Lewis said Gov. Patton decided to send Rogers to Florida rather than any of the other states because it was a death penalty state, a move he called unconstitutional.

Commonwealth Attorney Tom Smith said the only legal options for opposing extradition are to prove that the move is unconstitutional or that law enforcement officials have not proved that Rogers is the man wanted in Florida.

No date had been set for an appeal hearing.

Florida officials say Rogers killed Tina Marie Cribbs, 34, whose body was found Nov. 7, 1995, in his Tampa hotel room.

He was arrested driving Cribbs’ car after a high-speed chase near Waco, Ky., on Nov. 13, and is jailed in Kentucky on local charges of wanton endangerment and criminal mischief.

Smith said the trial on the Kentucky charges will be deferred, but if Rogers is not convicted in Florida, he could be returned to face them.