MILTON – Veteran First Judicial Circuit Prosecuting Attorney Bobby Elmore will not be around to try Shawn Rogers for the brutal 2012 killing of Ricky Martin at the Santa Rosa Correctional Institution.
Scheduling a three-week trial in the most secure of the courtrooms at the aging Santa Rosa County Courthouse building couldn't be done before Dec. 21. And Elmore, who has never lost a murder case in his long career, is retiring at the end of the year.
The state intends to seek the death penalty if Rogers is convicted.
Elmore explained to Circuit Judge Marci Goodman that even if he chose to enter the state's DROP program and return to his job, he would have to wait six months after retiring to do so.
"And that is not my plan at this point," Elmore said.
Goodman ordered a trial date to be set in January 2016, if the First Judicial Circuit's State Attorney's Office is able to have someone ready to prosecute the case at that time.
Rogers, who in a letter to the judge has admitted to tying and beating Martin to death, was scheduled to go on trial in January, but an in-depth article that appeared in the Miami Herald just before the trial was to start abruptly halted the proceedings. The article discussed the Martin murder as one that raised serious questions about the way the Florida Department of Corrections handles death investigations and took a hard look at the actions of some of the guards at the Santa Rosa County prison on the night Martin was beaten.
Rogers' attorney, Marty Lester, referenced the Miami Herald article several times in a detailed motion for continuance written after the story appeared. He obtained a postponement at that time. Tuesday's hearing was the first in the Rogers case since January.
Elmore told the judge he would have no issue with trying the case prior to December and argued that the defense team should be able to prepare in time to get the trial in too. Goodman said her concerns were not so much with the defense team's preparation as they were about courtroom security. It is anticipated numerous inmates are going to be bussed in to testify at the trial.
"With the number of Department of Corrections inmates we have I want to make sure they're able to move them in and out," she said.
The Santa Rosa Courthouse has only one courtroom at which satisfactory security could be provided, Goodman said. For years elected officials have pushed for a new, more secure judicial center. Residents have twice voted down a sales tax increase to pay for a new facility, but officials seem ready to put it up for a vote again in 2016.
In November, almost 56 percent of voters opposed implementing a 1-cent sales tax to fund the replacement of the judicial center – considered one of the oldest active courthouses in the state.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Murder trial delayed due to safety concerns