On Friday, Oct. 17, a jury in Cedar City found a man not guilty after he was accused of improperly touching a then-16-year-old girl during a motorcycle ride two years ago.
Theron Allan Rogers, 37, was acquitted of two counts of forcible sexual abuse and one count of attempted forcible sexual abuse after giving a ride to the girl. Rogers took the girl to Three Peaks Recreation Arena and then back to her home.
Rogers’ accuser claimed he had grabbed her buttocks, put his hand between her legs and rubbed her genitals during the ride that took place on the evening of Oct. 14, 2023.
After three days of testimony and four and a half hours of deliberation, the jury of six men and two women found Rogers not guilty.
The defense heard testimony from two private investigators and the defendant’s wife, Christina Rogers, who maintained that she supported her husband and accused the teen of lying.
The prosecution’s witnesses included the accuser, her mother and Iron County Sheriff’s Detective Mark Zakarian. Their major pieces of evidence included pages from the teen’s journal that described the night and encounter in question, as well as portions of a police-monitored phone call where the girl asked Rogers about the events of the drive about a month after it happened.
Defense attorney Ed Flint called the phone call’s validity into question, saying it was edited in a misleading manner and that his client never admitted any wrongdoing.
“I would have been happy to play the entire hour and 31 minutes of that pretext call, because it shows how hard they push a 16-year-old girl to become a cop,” he said in an interview with Cedar City News following the verdict. “They essentially fed her the information and told her how to present it. The jury didn’t see any of that.”
Flint also said the prosecution had failed to fully investigate the case and prove that, beyond reasonable doubt, Rogers plausibly committed the alleged actions.
“The sheriff’s office and the Iron County Attorney’s Office did zero investigation or consideration about all that bulky gear, bulky gloves and giant helmets that are hard to talk through,” said Flint. “They never took into consideration that it was a loud motorcycle on a bumpy dirt road. They just ignored all of that.”
Flint also said he took exception to detectives interrogating his client for more than 30 minutes after Rogers invoked his right to silence and asked for his attorney to be present.
Rogers did not go to the witness stand during the proceedings, which Judge Meb Anderson reminded the jury was his right. Despite instructing his client to not speak publicly about the case, Flint said Rogers felt vindicated and that the verdict “speaks for itself.”
Prosecutor Trajan Evans declined to comment beyond expressing his appreciation for the jury in the case.
Author: Payson Davis
Photo credit: John Deacon
Editor: Hannah Clove
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