The Florida Supreme Court today denied a final appeal from death row inmate Glen Edward Rogers, paving the way for his execution, which is scheduled for May 15, 2025. The court affirmed a lower court’s summary denial of Rogers’ fourth successive postconviction motion.
The high court agreed with the postconviction court that the claims raised by Rogers were either untimely, procedurally barred, or lacked merit. The ruling also denied Rogers’ motion for a stay of execution and a request for oral argument.
Rogers was sentenced to death for the 1995 murder of Tina Marie Cribbs in Hillsborough County. According to the court’s summary of the case background, Rogers met Cribbs at a bar in Tampa, and her body was later discovered in the bathtub of his motel room, having suffered fatal stab wounds.
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Evidence, including Rogers’ fingerprints, linked him to the crime. He was apprehended in Kentucky and subsequently convicted of first-degree murder, armed robbery, and grand theft.
Governor Ron DeSantis signed Rogers’ death warrant on April 15, 2025. In response, Rogers filed his fourth successive postconviction motion, presenting three main arguments:
- He was unconstitutionally deprived of the right to challenge his conviction and sentence due to a conflict of interest with his legal counsel, Capital Collateral Regional Counsel – Middle Region (CCRC-M).
- Newly discovered evidence of childhood sexual abuse and trafficking constitutes significant mitigation that would warrant a life sentence.
- Florida’s lethal injection procedures, as applied to him, are cruel and unusual due to his diagnosis of porphyria.
The Supreme Court rejected all three claims. Regarding the conflict of interest, the court found the claim was procedurally barred because it could have been raised earlier. Furthermore, the court determined there was no “actual conflict” as defined by law based on Rogers’ prior federal litigation or his desire to challenge his counsel’s past performance, noting Florida law does not provide a right to challenge the adequacy of collateral representation.
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The claim of newly discovered evidence of childhood abuse was deemed untimely and procedurally barred. The court reiterated that evidence of alleged abuse at a facility (TICO) and in Ohio could have been discovered with due diligence by trial counsel, as noted in a prior ruling (Rogers V). The court also held that recent legislative action or studies, such as the bill related to capital human trafficking, do not constitute “newly discovered evidence” in this context.
Finally, Rogers’ challenge to the lethal injection protocol based on his porphyria diagnosis was found to be untimely and without merit. The court stated such claims are generally procedurally barred unless the execution method changes or new facts arise from a prior execution, neither of which applied.
The court also rejected the argument that the claim only became ripe upon the signing of the death warrant. On the merits, the court found Rogers failed to demonstrate that the procedure, including the use of etomidate, presents a substantial and imminent risk of needless suffering or to identify a known, available alternative method that would entail a significantly less severe risk of pain.
The Supreme Court’s decision marks the latest step in Rogers’ extensive post-conviction litigation history, which has included multiple state and federal appeals that have been denied.
Rogers’ execution remains scheduled for May 15, 2025.
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