Rogers v. State

On October 16, 1976, appellant Rogers was found guilty by a jury in the Lake Superior Court of first-degree murder and murder in the perpetration of a robbery. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The case in question involves the robbery, on February 23, 1976, between nine and ten in the evening, of Mona’s Lounge in Gary, Indiana, by a group of young black men. One of the young men pulled out a gun and stated, “This is a stick-up, everybody on the floor.” One David Clay then fell to the floor, and while he was on his back he drew two weapons and started firing shots toward the front of the…