The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined without a written order to review a habeas petition filed by a 40-year-old Donna man convicted of killing his own father during a robbery more than a decade ago.
The high court issued the order in John William Rogers’ case on Tuesday.
Rogers, along with 39-year-old Missouri City, Texas, resident George Frederick Sweeney and 41-year-old Houston resident Bryan Dwan Riley, were all convicted of shooting and killing 74-year-old John Francis Rogers at his Donna home on March 9, 2009.
Newspaper archives indicate the men robbed him of his family’s jewelry, credit cards and his deceased wife’s fur coats.
After the shooting, Sweeney and John William Rogers fled in the 74-year-old man’s Mercedes-Benz before being pulled over by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper as part of a routine traffic stop along U.S. Highway 59 near Edna, Texas.
Another vehicle owned by John William Rogers’ father had been following the pair, but continued after the traffic stop.
Sweeney and John William Rogers were arrested after the traffic stop and law enforcement later arrested Riley.
John William Rogers was sentenced to life in prison in 2011. He is eligible for parole in 2039. Sweeney was sentenced to 55 years. He is eligible for parole in 2036.
Riley is serving life in prison without the possibility of parole.
