Murder Of Retarded Woman Earns Nig Lifetime Vacation

[LaKooneshia]

Don't Kill The Nigga, He Had A Bad Childhood


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I Had Me A Dishfunkshunal Chil'hood

A jury has decided not to impose the death penalty on a man convicted of first-degree murder in the March 2001 suffocation of a mentally handicapped woman in Henderson.

Cornelius Rogers, 42, was sentenced Saturday to life in prison without the chance of parole for the killing of 33-year-old Julie Holt during a burglary at her family's home.

The Clark County District Court jury weighed mitigating circumstances in deciding not to hand down the death penalty, including Rogers' difficult upbringing.

During the two-day sentencing hearing, his attorneys and others told the jury that Rogers grew up in poverty with an abusive father who was in and out of his life and a mother who was ill-equipped to care for him and his five sisters.

Rogers spent time in foster care and lost an eye at the age of 15 in a drive-by shooting in California.

He already has spent at least 20 years behind bars for various offenses, including sexual assault and pistol-whipping a woman.

"They considered the struggles and horrors of the defendant's childhood in reaching this decision," public defender Scott Coffee told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "I know it's not a decision they made lightly."

Although prosecutors pushed for the death penalty, they regarded
the sentence as a victory.

"The goal of the state was to protect the community by never having Cornelius Rogers be out again. We met that goal," Deputy District Attorney Tracey Brierly said.

Rogers had been released from the Southern Desert Correctional
Center near Indian Springs four months before the murder.

Kathy Holt, the victim's mother, attended the sentencing hearing but declined to comment. She had previously said that she wanted Rogers to receive the harshest punishment.

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Julie Holt spent the last Saturday night of her life with her mother, getting her hair done at a salon in a local Wal-Mart. The 33-year-old Holt, who was mentally retarded, was proud of her haircut and showed it off for the next few days.

The memory of how happy her daughter had been brought tears to Kathy Holt's eyes as she spoke at a sentencing hearing for Cornelius Rogers, the man convicted of killing her daughter.

"He deserves the worst punishment," Kathy Holt said.

Jurors in District Judge Jennifer Togliatti's courtroom are expected to start deliberating today whether to sentence Rogers to death.

On Dec. 21, the jury found Rogers guilty of first-degree murder for the slaying of Holt during a March 2001 burglary. Holt was found hogtied inside her family's home in Henderson. A sock had been stuffed in her mouth, and a medical examiner determined Holt's death was caused by suffocation.

During Thursday's hearing, Kathy Holt told the jury how lonely she has been since her daughter was killed. Her husband, John Holt, died about a year ago of natural causes.

Kathy Holt told the jury that when John Holt was becoming gravely ill, he told her, "I'll never live to see the trial."

The case took more than six years to come to trial because several aspects of it went before the Nevada Supreme Court.

John Holt discovered his daughter bound and dead in their home.

He had met Rogers while working as a supply warehouse worker at the Southern Nevada Correctional Center in Jean. At the time, Rogers was serving about seven years at the prison for battery and robbery.

Rogers remained stoic throughout his penalty hearing Thursday until his mother and other relatives spoke on his behalf.

Rogers, who lost an eye at age 15 when he was shot during a drive-by shooting in California, used a tissue to dab tears from his remaining eye.

"I love him," said Louise Collins, Rogers' mother.

Rogers grew up poor with five sisters and was placed in foster care as a youth. Family members described living in squalid conditions and not having enough food to eat or clothes to wear.

Collins said Rogers' father was physically and sexually abusive to her children and often would beat, slap or kick her. The family moved 24 times to try and get away from Rogers' father but he kept tracking them down, she said.

Rogers has spent about 20 years of his life behind bars. He was sent to prison in 1986 after he was convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in California after he robbed her, authorities said.

Before leaving the woman, he tied her up and taped a sock in her mouth, authorities said.

He served about six years of a 12-year sentence and was paroled in 1992.

In 1993, he pistol-whipped a woman, Diana Cunanan, during a robbery attempt in Las Vegas at the insurance company where she worked.

He was arrested and served about seven years for that case.

An inmate who was housed with Rogers in 2003 at the county jail testified on Rogers' behalf.

Christopher Robinson told the jury that he shared a cell with Rogers and that Rogers helped him during his first few months inside the Clark County Detention Center.

Robinson is serving time at Southern Desert Correctional Center for attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. A self-described "hit man," Robinson was hired to kill a classmate's parents in 2003.

Robinson told the jury that if he gets paroled, he will leave prison a different man largely because of Rogers.

"I never want to go back (to prison), and he taught me that," said Robinson, dressed in an orange Nevada Department of Corrections prison uniform and shackled.

"I think I'm alive today because of him," Robinson said.

[LaKooneshia]

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'Rogers grew up poor with five sisters and was placed in foster care as a youth. Family members described living in squalid conditions and not having enough food to eat or clothes to wear..."

Gee, Officer Krupke, we're very upset;
We never had the love that ev'ry child oughta get.
We ain't no delinquents,
We're misunderstood.
Deep down inside us there is good!

There is good!

Gee, Officer Krupke,
We're down on our knees,
'Cause no one wants a fellow with a social disease.
Gee, Officer Krupke,
What are we to do?
Gee, Officer Krupke,
Krup you!