Anchorage Murder Trial Begins With Tale Of Aliens

Yes, he confessed, but Christopher Erin Rogers didn't actually kill anyone in Anchorage in December 2007, defense attorney David Weber told a jury Tuesday as Rogers' murder trial got under way in Anchorage.

The day Jason Wenger was shot and killed in Spenard and Liz Rumsey was shot and seriously injured on a downtown bike trail, Rogers watched the news, Weber said. And the next day, when he decided to steal Tamas Deak's car, he imitated what he'd seen and shot Deak, Weber said.

Then he fabricated a confession.

How could jurors tell Rogers' confession to all the shootings was bogus?

Aliens, Weber explained.

Rogers told police at one point that aliens made him shoot Wenger, Rumsey and Deak. However, aliens don't speak to people, Weber said, so that was obviously not true.

He flashed pictures of E.T., crop circles and giant satellite dishes on a projector in the courtroom to illustrate his point. Weber explained to jurors that he couldn't call the aliens to check, but it was safe to assume they didn't tell Rogers to shoot people. Rogers made up the aliens, just like he made up the rest of his confession, he said.

The jury hasn't been told that Rogers was convicted last year of murder in a Palmer court for hacking his father and stepmother with a machete, leaving his father dead.

He's on trial in Anchorage for what happened afterward: Police say he drove his father's truck to Anchorage and went on a shooting rampage, attacking strangers over a two-day period. Wenger was killed. Rumsey and Deak were seriously injured. Police found Rogers in Deak's car and arrested him. They say he fired into police cruisers during a chase, attempting to kill officers.

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