"I Am Sorry": Dayton Leroy Rogers Addresses His Jury, 2015

Name: "I Am Sorry": Dayton Leroy Rogers Addresses His Jury, 2015
Uploaded: 2015-11-14
Duration: 3 min 30 s
Description: Facing his fourth death-penalty jury, Dayton Leroy Rogers named eight women and girls, said he had no right to take their lives, and asked to stay in prison until he died.

Facing his fourth death-penalty jury, Dayton Leroy Rogers named eight women and girls, said he had no right to take their lives, and asked to stay in prison until he died.

Subject: Dayton Leroy Rogers
Recorded: about November 13, 2015
Runtime: 3:30

Content warning: Concerns the murders of eight women and girls, one of them 16 years old.

The Statement

In November 2015 a Clackamas County jury in Oregon City heard the case for and against putting Dayton Leroy Rogers to death for the fourth time. Before the jury reached its verdict, Rogers read a statement to them. Speaking slowly, with long pauses, he said that the enormity of his crimes made the word "sorry" all but inadequate, but that he still needed to say it. He named eight women and girls by their first names and said he had no right to take their lives. He told the jury that he had "sought a new God", that he belonged behind bars until he died, and that death would "surely visit me in its due course".

Historical Context

Rogers, a small-engine mechanic, was arrested in August 1987 after he stabbed Jennifer Lisa Smith in his truck in a lot in Oak Grove, Clackamas County; people from a nearby restaurant went to her aid, but she died in hospital. The remains of seven women were later found at a dump site on private forest land outside Molalla, Oregon; six were identified at the time. He was convicted of Smith's murder in 1988, and in 1989 a jury convicted him of the aggravated murders of six women found in the forest and sentenced him to death. His victims were Jennifer Lisa Smith, Lisa Marie Mock, Maureen Ann Hodges, Christine Lotus Adams, Cynthia DeVore, Nondace "Noni" Cervantes, Reatha Gyles, aged 16, and Tawnia Jarie Johnson, whose remains were identified only in 2013.

Circumstances of the Statement

The Oregon Supreme Court set aside his death sentence three times: in 1992, in 2000 and on October 11, 2012. Each time a new penalty-phase trial followed. The 2015 retrial was the fourth. According to AP, his lawyer, Richard Wolf, told the jury that Rogers would give up his appeals if he were sentenced to life without parole. Rogers's statement was made on the last Friday before the verdict. On Monday, November 16, 2015, the jury again chose death.

What the Statement Covers

Rogers apologises, repeating "I am sorry". He names eight victims by first name, among them Jennifer, Reatha, Lisa, Noni, Cynthia and Tawnia (two other names are hard to make out; see Caveats). He describes being "overwhelmed, repulsed, broken by my own evil carnage", says he "sought a new God", and thanks the people who had supported him in prison. He says he has sentenced the victims' families to "a lifetime of precious loss and sorrow" and agrees that he has "forfeited my place in free society".

What Makes the Recording Significant

The statement is Rogers speaking in his own words, in public, about his crimes. It was made for a purpose: to persuade the jury to spare his life. The jury was not persuaded.

Archival Importance

The case passed through Oregon's courts for more than thirty years. The 2015 death sentence was itself overturned by the Oregon Supreme Court on November 12, 2021, after a change in the state's law on aggravated murder. This clip preserves his plea at the last of his four death-penalty juries.

Important Caveats

Rogers's remorse is his own account, offered while he was asking a jury for a life sentence. The upload's description says he was "sentenced to death for torturing and killing six women"; he was convicted of seven murders (Smith in 1988 and six in 1989), and in this statement he names eight. Two of the names he reads are not clear in the machine transcription and are bracketed in the transcript until checked by ear. The judge is not named in the sources checked.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: The enormity of my crimes makes, makes the word "sorry" all but inadequate. It would seem like an insult to even say it. But I still need to say it, whether it's received or not.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: I am sorry. I'm so very sorry. I am sorry.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: Telling the truth, telling what I did: I had no right to take the lives of Jennifer, Reatha, Lisa, Noni, Cynthia, [unclear: "Christine" / "Kristy"], [unclear: "Maureen" / "Renee" / "Irene"], or Tawnia.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: There's never a day that I don't struggle with the very core of my heart and soul. I became so overwhelmed, repulsed, broken by my own evil carnage, I literally died to self. I desperately sought spiritual rescue from my own personal demons. So, yes, I sought a new God.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: You have heard from some of the good people who have supported my journey since I have been in prison, providing study tools and fellowship. Because of what I've done and caused, I have literally sentenced the lives and the hearts of the victims' family members to a lifetime of precious loss and sorrow.

Dayton Leroy Rogers: I have clearly shown to all and myself that I belong in prison for the rest of my life. I absolutely agree that I have forfeited my place in free society, and that I forever belong behind bars till I die. And yes, death will surely visit me in its due course. ---