Richard W. Rogers Jr., 55, accused of killing and dismembering two men, including a gay prostitute, was convicted of both crimes last week.
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Friday, November 18, 2005
TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — A former nurse was convicted of murdering and dismembering two men, including a gay prostitute, whose body parts were dumped along New Jersey highways in the 1990s. Richard W. Rogers Jr., 55, faces up to life in prison with a minimum of 30 years without parole on each of the murder counts. Prosecutors did not seek the death penalty. “We feel justice has been done,” said Margaret Mulcahy, widow of businessman Thomas Mulcahy. Rogers will be sentenced Jan. 26. Fingerprints and a palm print on bags with both men’s body parts were matched to Rogers in 2001 after authorities in Maine went online with an automated fingerprint identification system. During the trial, the judge ruled that jurors should be allowed to hear evidence about the dismemberment deaths of two other men to help establish Rogers’ identity as the killer in the two New Jersey cases. Authorities said all four men were gay or bisexual, and the judge said the deaths were so similar they constituted a pattern.
BENTON, Ark. — A Benton man admitted in court last week and was convicted of exposing another man to HIV, the Benton Courier reported. Steven Turbyfill, 49, went on trial for knowingly exposing Bobby Ray Mezzell, 51, to the virus; Mezzell now has AIDS. He said he feels “validated” that Turbyfill admitted to the charge. Turbyfill was sentenced to 20 years in prison by Saline County Circuit Judge Grisham A. Phillips. Authorities said Turbyfill and Mezzell were sexually active from October 2003 to October 2004. Turbyfill admitted in court that he had unprotected sex with Mezzell, knowing that he had HIV, Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Ken Casady told the Courier. Mezzell was diagnosed with HIV in late 2004, prompting the state health department to investigate. Turbyfill was diagnosed with the disease in 1992.
BUFFALO, Minn. (AP) — Two men charged in an unsolved, decades-old murder case have given different stories about what happened the night of the slaying. Early last week, three men were charged in the beating death of Jeffrey Hammill, a 21-year-old Buffalo man, who the defendants may have thought was gay. The case had been reopened after Hammill’s daughter inquired about his death. Terry Olson, 46, and Ronald Michaels, 51, were charged with first-degree murder. Dale Todd, 45, is facing a charge of second-degree murder. According to the documents made public last week, the four men met 26 years ago, on the night of Aug. 10, at a bar. They later drove to a home where there was a “scuffle” between Hammill and Olson. Todd alleges that Olson and Michaels assaulted Hammill, but Olson, while in jail on a separate charge, told a fellow inmate that Michaels alone killed Hammill. Olson also indicated to the inmate that the three men believed Hammill was gay.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — A former Memphis firefighter who said authorities want to prove he is gay has been ruled competent to stand trial in a shooting rampage that left his wife and three others dead. Judge Arthur Bennett ruled last week that despite having mental illness, Fredrick Williams understands the capital murder charges against him and is able to assist in his defense. A trial date will be set Dec. 2. Williams, 46, has confessed to killing his wife, Stacey Williams, setting her home on fire and then ambushing fellow firefighters and a sheriff’s deputy as they arrived in March 2000. In 2002 he was diagnosed as depressed, psychotic and delusional and sent to a mental hospital. His psychiatrist and a clinical psychologist at the hospital testified in September that Williams’ condition had improved. Williams has said he is “the only begotten son of God,” that authorities are trying to prove he is gay and that “a new world order” is out to get him.
TROWBRDGE, U.K. — A group of youths who assumed a man was gay because he had a limp wrist beat him and left him with severe brain damage, a court heard last week, according to news reports. Asa Freeman, 33, who says he is heterosexual, was assaulted during a January night out with a male friend. The gang shouted “faggot” and “queer” as they beat him, prosecutor Andrew MacFarlane said in Swindon Crown Court. Freeman had a limp wrist as a result of a stroke he suffered as a child. Freeman was left in a coma and only recently awoke with “a sort of consciousness,” but cannot perform basic functions, the BBC reported. Charged in the case are Paulo Rossi, 20, and 19-year-olds Shane Flexon, Lee Frisby and Joel Bailey. Each pled not guilty.
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