Perris Councilwoman’s Drug Case Is a Mistrial

A judge declared a mistrial Tuesday in the case of a Perris councilwoman after a Riverside County jury deadlocked on charges that she conspired with her son to make and sell crack cocaine.

Marita “Rita” Gaye Rogers, 55, sat silently as Superior Court Judge Helios J. Hernandez announced that the jury was unable to reach a verdict after deliberating for more than three days. The same jury returned guilty verdicts on all three counts against the councilwoman’s 30-year-old son, Joseph Raymond Rogers, including charges of manufacturing and possessing crack cocaine with intent to sell.

“It’s sort of bittersweet, I guess,” said Ingrid Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office. “On one hand, the jury did not reach a verdict, but we can still proceed with another trial, if that’s what we decide to do. We got a conviction on Mr. Rogers, so we were happy that the jury decided in our favor in that.”

Rita Rogers declined to comment after the trial.

If convicted, the councilwoman would have faced a maximum of 12 years in prison because of a sentencing enhancement on charges that she also illegally possessed a handgun, Wyatt said. A felony conviction would have prevented her from holding office.

“She hasn’t been proven guilty of anything, so therefore she remains a member of our City Council,” said Perris Mayor Daryl Busch.

Joseph Rogers was arrested in 2002 on suspicion of possessing several ounces of crack cocaine, the cheap and highly addictive derivative of the drug.

That led authorities to search the Mead Valley home belonging to Rita Rogers. There, sheriff’s officials found evidence of a crack cocaine lab along with drug paraphernalia and a 9-millimeter handgun in her bedroom, Wyatt said.

Rogers had maintained throughout the trial that she was not involved in drug activity at the house, which she said she uses only as an office and for storage. The councilwoman said she lives in Perris.