Ex-deputy’s 2nd penalty phase retrial postponed
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — The penalty phase retrial of a former Kern County sheriff’s deputy who killed a woman and teen girl in separate shootings in the 1980s has been pushed back to October.
During a status conference Wednesday, the attorney representing 77-year-old David Keith Rogers said more time was needed to prepare and he would not be ready by May 20, the previously scheduled trial date.
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Chief Deputy Public Defender Teryl Wakeman said he’s confident he’ll be ready by Oct. 1. Judge John W. Lua set the trial for that date, with a readiness hearing Sept. 20 and another status conference on Aug. 14.
Rogers, who via videoconference, agreed to the new dates.
Prosecutor Eric Smith didn’t object to the postponement, noting Wakeman was assigned the case not long ago. He added, however, that he expected Wakeman to be ready to proceed in October, which will mark the second time Rogers’ penalty phase has been retried.
The first penalty phase retrial was held last year and ended with a jury deadlocked 10-2 in favor of Rogers being sentenced to death. The only alternative is for Rogers to serve life in prison with no possibility of parole.
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In 1988, Rogers was convicted of killing Janine Benintende, 20, in 1986 and Tracie Clark, 15, a year later, shooting them multiple times then dumping their bodies in the Arvin-Edison canal. Both Benintende and Clark, who was three months pregnant when killed, were picked up by Rogers while working as prostitutes.
Rogers was sentenced to death.
The state Supreme Court in 2019 overturned his death sentence after determining a prosecution witness whose testimony was used during the penalty phase falsely testified he sexually assaulted her. His murder convictions remain intact.
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