ROGERS WARRANT: Circuit court denies postconviction claims
Glen Rogers’ execution is set for May 15 at 6:00 p.m. Yesterday, the Hillsborough County circuit court denied his successive motion for postconviction relief filed after the warrant was signed.
Glen Rogers’ execution is set for May 15 at 6:00 p.m. Yesterday, the Hillsborough County circuit court denied his successive motion for postconviction relief filed after the warrant was signed.
On Tuesday, the court held a Huff hearing. Afterwards, the court determined that an evidentiary hearing was not warranted on the claims raised in Rogers’ motion.
Yesterday, the court entered a Final Order denying Rogers’ motion. On the first claim, Rogers sought to disqualify his counsel due to an alleged conflict. The trial court previously denied this claim. The court reiterated that Rogers’ counsel’s request to withdraw “is untimely and without merit as there is no actual or active conflict of interest.”
On Rogers’ second claim related to newly discovered evidence based on the pending legislation establishing human trafficking of children as a capital crime, the court determined the claim is procedurally barred because Rogers “raised th[e] same or substantially similar claim in his third successive motion for postconviction relief” in 2020. Further, the court determined that the proposed legislation “is not newly discovered evidence and does not revive” his prior claim.
On Rogers’ third claim regarding the use of Florida’s lethal injection claim at his execution due to his porphyria diagnosis. The court determined this claim is untimely because he’s known about his diagnosis since his trial in 1997. Again, this is a common catch-22 for prisoners under death warrant because these claims would not be ripe for review until the death warrant but then they’re told the claims are too late when raised under warrant.
The court further determined that the claim is without merit because Rogers did not “explain how either of his proposed alternative methods of execution - lethal gas or firing squad - is feasible or can be readily implemented, or that either method in fact significantly reduces the substantial risk of severe pain.”
A full copy of the Order can be downloaded here.
A Notice of Appeal has been filed.
TFDP Prior Coverage of the Rogers Warrant
My thoughts are with everyone involved in the warrant- and execution-related process.
Time to pay the piper. Death Penalty verdicts in California and Florida for horrific capital crimes.