Charlie Rogers, an out lesbian and former University of Nebraska basketball player, is being charged with making a false police report of a hate crime in a case that?s made national headlines. Still, Rogers pleaded not guilty.
SFGN spoke with Rogers' lawyer to get her side of story. Here?s the whole picture:
Only July 22, police were called to Rogers home after she crawled from her house naked, bleeding and screaming for help. According to CNN, Rogers told police that three masked men broke into her home, and that one of them pinned her down while another sliced a cross into her chest, cut the front of her thighs and shins and carved derogatory words in her arms and abdomen. Rogers then said they rolled her onto her stomach and cut her buttocks, the back of her thighs and the back of her right calf. She also said they tried to burn down her house. Friends of Rogers also told ABC affiliate KLKN-TV that anti-gay slurs were also found spray painted throughout her basement.
On Tuesday, Aug. 21, Rogers, 33, pleaded not guilty to charges of making a false police report.
Four days before the alleged incident, police say Rogers posted on Facebook her motive for faking the attack: "So maybe I am too idealistic, but I believe way deep inside me that we can make things better for everyone. I will be a catalyst. I will do what it takes. I will. Watch me," is what police say the July 18 post read.
The Lincoln Journal Star reported that an arrest warrant for Charlie Rogers was issued after investigators say they found no sign of a struggle in the living room where the Rogers claimed she was attacked. She has since been released on a personal recognizance bond after a brief court appearance. The warrant stated that "There was no apparent blood on the bedspread; even though Ms. Rogers reported she was rolled on to her stomach after she had been cut on her arms, abdomen, chest and front of her legs while being held down?.
SFGN spoke with Rogers? attorney, Brett McArthur, who said that this turn in the events has been very hard for her but that he has fielded ?a lot of calls from people that really want to support and be there for Charlie. She really is a wonderful person.?
Almost immediately after her alleged attack, several hundred LGBT advocates, supporters and allies turned out for candlelight vigils for Rogers. Four Nebraska gay-rights groups that followed the case released a joint statement crediting police for conducting what they believe was a balanced and thorough investigation.
?It is important not to focus on the actions of any single individual," the statement read. "As residents of Lincoln we must continue to bring our community together to declare that violence and hate are not the values of our city."
Rogers sat down for a rather emotional interview with KETV-TV to respond to those who said the attack was a hoax, saying that her "world had been changed forever" by the alleged attack. "The idea that people think it's a lie is so hurtful," she said at the time. "For people to think this doesn't happen here, it does. It did."
When pressed for more information of the fallout from Rogers? charges, McArthur told SFGN that he and Rogers had started to receive hate mail directed at them and gays in general. ?I?m assuming most of it is from heterosexuals but I can?t rule out some gays being mad at the allegations,? he said.
Lincoln Police Chief Jim Peschong told the Associated Press that police found a pile of clothes, white knit gloves and a red box cutter on the living room floor after the alleged attack. Rogers said the gloves didn't belong to her. He also said that investigators have determined that a lot of the DNA found inside the glove was Rogers' and that none of it came from a male. Investigators also discovered that Rogers deleted numerous text messages she had sent the evening of the alleged attack, and that she bought cotton gloves, a box cutter and zip ties from an Ace Hardware Store in Lincoln on July 17. All of the items were later found in her house, he said. When confronted about the evidence weeks later, Peschong said Rogers admitted to purchasing all the items except the gloves. She also sent a photo of a cross-shaped cut on her chest to a friend a few days before the reported attack, Peschong said.
Investigators say they also found no apparent sign of a struggle in the living room where Rogers said she was attacked, and no blood on the sheets where the cutting allegedly took place. An FBI forensic pathologist concluded that Rogers either cut herself, or allowed someone else to do it. Peschong said the department spent thousands of dollars investigating the case, but stressed that the case will not undermine the department's trust in people who report hate crimes.
"The FBI, the Bureau of Fire Prevention and the Lincoln Police Department have spent an exorbitant amount of time and personnel resources investigating this and ? we aggressively investigated this. Every day since this incident has happened, there have been investigators working on trying to identify who these assailants were," Peschong told the AP.
Despite all the alleged evidence, Brett McArthur hopes that the public keeps an open mind and wants to remind people that ?this is America, people are still innocent until proven guilty.?
st louis cardinals jared sullinger jaleel white levi johnston 2013 srt viper scott walker recall fisker atlantic
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.