Teresa Sievers’ convicted killer Jimmy Rodgers files second appeal

Jimmy Rodgers, who was convicted of second-degree murder, is currently serving a life sentence for the death of local doctor Teresa Sievers. Still, he isn’t giving up and accepting his fate.

WINK News has learned that Rodgers has filed a second appeal in his case after his conviction was upheld last year.

The attorney who represented him in his first appeal is now the focus of his latest appeal, as Rodgers says she didn’t do enough. We spoke to her about this new appeal and Rodgers’ options.

“The jury had found him not guilty of first-degree murder, which is a planned murder. They found him guilty of a lesser included, which is second-degree murder. And then there were special interrogatories, is on the jury forum where that jury who was in the back room had to decide, did they think that Mr. Rogers actually held or touched a weapon during the commission of this crime? And the jury answered, no,” said Samantha Stevins, Rodgers’ attorney during his first appeal and the focus of his second.

Stevins represented Rodgers during his first appeal. A panel of three judges said the law was applied fairly, despite Stevins pointing out the inconsistencies of the jury’s verdict.

“This man is found factually to have not carried, touched, or held a weapon. So how does the second-degree murder work? When to kill somebody, you have to do an act of participation. And this is where the court and the legal issue was for Mr. Rogers’ case,” Stevins said.

Last year, WINK News spoke with Rodgers. “The jury says I’m not a hitman. I was found innocent a conspiracy. And the jury found me without a weapon means I’m not the killer. So I’m not a killer. I’m not part of any conspiracy. I [was] essentially in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Rodgers.

Stevins says that doesn’t matter now. He has to prove that her representation was deficient or that a mistake was made when the judges upheld his conviction.

She said if Rodgers wins the appeal, he doesn’t get a new trial. It just means the original appeal can be looked at once more. If he loses, she said he might only have one appeal left at the federal level before he runs out of appeals.