THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 20, 1996 TAG: 9608200403
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY NAOMI AOKI, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 82 lines
A Circuit Court jury took about 45 minutes Monday to convict Ricky DeWayne Rogers of a brutal rape and murder that went unpunished for almost nine years.
As Judge John C. Morrison read the first of five guilty verdicts, the victim's family and friends gasped and grabbed each other's hands. Rogers was found guilty of the 1987 robbery, rape and murder of Grace Elizabeth Payne, 28, in her Ghent home. He was also convicted of stealing and using her credit card.
Then the judge imposed the maximum sentence: three life terms plus 25 years. Rogers, 40, will be eligible for parole in about 20 to 30 years because the crime took place before Virginia's no-parole law went into effect in January 1995.
``I'm extremely relieved that he's going to be off the streets,'' said Dale Pennell of Newport News, the murdered woman's sister. For the past nine years, Pennell has worked closely with police on the case.
``I have done this to protect some young lady I'll never know,'' Pennell, 47, said in an interview after the verdict. ``I've lived with the knowledge that he's been out on the street for nine years.''
Rogers was first charged in the murder in November 1987, weeks after Payne was found murdered in her third-floor apartment in the 800 block of Westover Ave. Payne was bound and raped, then strangled and stabbed.
There were no signs of forced entry, but the apartment had been ransacked. Two guns and three bags of silver coins worth about $2,000 were missing. They have never been recovered.
The case was the first in Norfolk in which DNA testing was used. But at that time, DNA testing was in its infancy and test results were inconclusive. Other forensic evidence was also inconclusive. One key witness died and another recanted. As a result, prosecutors chose not to prosecute the case in 1988, leaving open the possibility of a trial at a later date.
A new DNA test requiring smaller amounts of semen than older tests allowed prosecutors to do just that. The 1995 test showed that DNA in semen taken from Payne was similar to Rogers' DNA, a forensic expert testified.
The new test results, a jacket and a videotape became the heart of the prosecution's case.
During his closing argument Monday, prosecutor Jon R. Zug showed jurors for the second time a videotape of an African-American man using the victim's Visa card to withdraw $300 from an ATM about 24 hours after her death. The black-and-white video is grainy and the man kept his head down, but the man in the video is wearing a jacket exactly like one owned by Rogers.
``Ladies and gentlemen, the person who used her card is the person who murdered her,'' Zug told jurors. ``The timing is just too close. And we know the person who used her card is an African American.''
Zug reminded the jury that among African Americans, the odds of finding the DNA type found in the semen sample and in Rogers is 1 in 26,000.
``Once you step back to view the whole picture with all the evidence, there's one person standing in that picture, and it's Ricky Rogers,'' Zug said.
Defense attorney B. Thomas Reed agreed, in his closing argument, that the jacket and the DNA were compelling but pointed out to jurors that they were only two of the prosecution's 62 pieces of evidence.
``Is that proof beyond a reasonable doubt?'' Reed asked the jury.
Reed pointed to the fact that Rogers' fingerprints were not found anywhere in Payne's apartment. He also said that analysis of hair samples taken from the scene was inconclusive.
``Does any of the scientific evidence point to the defendant?'' Reed asked. ``Except for the DNA report, the answer is no.''
The jury began deliberating at 2 p.m. Monday and returned guilty verdicts around 2:45 p.m. In a separate sentencing hearing, the jury deliberated for 30 minutes before recommending the maximum sentences.
While maintaining his innocence, Rogers accepted the sentence, saying he did not want to hurt his family more than he already had.
``I apologize to my mother and my fiance for having to put them through all this,'' he said.
His mother left the courtroom immediately after the verdict was read and waited outside during the sentencing.
For Payne's family and friends, there is relief, but no joy.
``There is no pleasure, no joy in this for me,'' said Pennell, who always carries a picture of her sister with her.
``This doesn't balance the scales in terms of my suffering and grief. But I'll rest easier knowing that he's not on the street. I am hopeful that there will be some closure in this.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Grace Elizabeth Payne
KEYWORDS: MURDER TRIAL CONVICTION DNA by CNB