The Georgia Supreme Court issued a ruling Tuesday morning affirming the malice murder conviction of Ralph Rogers, a Miller County man sentenced to life in prison for a 2015 shooting spree that left one person dead and two others wounded.
The decision, authored by Justice Ellington, rejects Rogers’ claims that he acted in self-defense and that the original trial verdict was contrary to the weight of the evidence.
The case stems from a June 20, 2015, confrontation at an apartment complex where Rogers lived with his girlfriend. According to court documents, the dispute began over a minor disagreement regarding dirt tracked into the home by a bicycle. The situation escalated when family members arrived to help a resident move out.
Witnesses at the trial testified that Rogers opened fire on Levionte Trell Burr, shooting her in the chest and back. When Lamaris Miller approached Rogers to ask why he had shot his sister, Rogers shot Miller multiple times in the chest, killing him. Rogers then chased a third individual, Damien Lee, across the street, shooting him in the leg, arm, and collarbone.
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During his appeal, Rogers argued that the evidence was insufficient to support his conviction. He testified during the original trial that he was “scared” and “just fired” to defend himself against a group he claimed was charging at him, noting that Burr was armed with a tire iron.
However, the Supreme Court noted that four bystander eyewitnesses and the surviving victims provided accounts that contradicted the self-defense claim. The court highlighted evidence that Miller was unarmed when he was killed and that Lee was shot while running away from the scene.
“The jury is free to reject the evidence in support of self-defense and to accept the evidence that the defendant did not act in self-defense,” the court stated in the opinion. The justices concluded that a rational trier of fact could find Rogers guilty beyond a reasonable doubt based on the testimony provided.
The court also dismissed Rogers’ argument that the trial judge failed to properly act as a “thirteenth juror” when reviewing the weight of the evidence during his motion for a new trial. The justices ruled that the trial court applied the correct legal standards and exercised its discretion appropriately.
Rogers remains sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Lamaris Miller, with additional consecutive and concurrent sentences for the aggravated assaults and firearm charges.
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