In a recent admission that brings some measure of accountability to an egregious act of law enforcement malfeasance, Joshua M. Rogers of Memphis, Tennessee, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for his role in the destruction of evidence pertaining to the fatal shooting of a man by a police officer, with the events preceding this indictment dating back to 2021, according to the Department of Justice.
Rogers, identified as an accomplice, admitted to impairing the integrity of the body of the victim, known by initials R.H., which effectively shielded his co-defendant, a former Memphis Police Department officer, from facing immediate criminal scrutiny, and Rogers and the officer after the wanton act of violence sought to hide their tracks by disposing of R.H.'s body in a horrific manner that included chaining, locking, and attaching cinder blocks to it before dumping it into the Wolf River in an effort to erase their crime from the annals of memory or potential legal action.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division expressed that the defendant "obstructed law enforcement from investigating and seeking justice on behalf of the victim, his family and friends" – a sentiment that captures the severity of Rogers' participation in the aftermath of the shooting, according to the Department of Justice.
Rogers, now facing a maximum sentence of 70 months in prison as per his plea agreement, awaits his sentencing hearing on August 6, while the attention now shifts to his former accomplice, the ex-police officer, who remains to be tried for civil rights, kidnapping, weapons, and obstruction charges with his date in court scheduled for November 3—and with the case being a joint effort between the FBI Memphis Field Office and the Memphis Police Department, MarLa Duncan of the Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney David Pritchard for the Western District of Tennessee lead the prosecution in ensuring that justice through the legal system might yet find its footing.
