Photo: Justin Rogers
A domestic violence victim who has been working to have charges against her attacker dropped almost from the time they were filed stood with him in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday as he was sentenced.
Twenty-five-year-old Justin Rogers of Mountain Home entered a plea of no contest to charges stemming from the incident and was sentenced to 20 years probation. His charges included aggravated assault, domestic battery, false imprisonment and interfering with emergency communications.
He was accused of holding his then girlfriend, 26-year-old Kelsie Deardoff against her will, beating, choking and threatening to kill the couple’s unborn baby by stabbing her in the stomach.
The couple married in October.
Deardoff-Rogers was partially successful in her quest to get Rogers off the hook in late May when Circuit Judge Gordon Webb lifted a no contact order meant to keep Rogers away from her. Deardoff-Rogers had told the court she wanted the order lifted so she could reunite with Rogers.
During a court session in August, Roger’s defense attorney, Matt Stone, asked the court to continue the case to determine if the relationship between Rogers and Deardoff remained violence free. He said since the no contract order had been lifted, “They have had a good couple of months and made real improvements in their lives.”
Deardoff-Rogers wrote statements to the court, and Stone has presented letters from ministers, teachers and an employer supporting Rogers and his effort to mend his ways.
Judge Webb commented during the August court session the facts in the case would make it very difficult to dismiss it, especially since the allegations came from Deardoff-Rogers herself.
The judge termed the events leading to the charges “about as serious” as a case of domestic violence can get. He said not only was Deardoff-Rogers in danger, but the safety of her children who were at Rogers’ house the night of the attack was also jeopardized.
The state had strongly objected to dismissing the case.
The incident leading to Rogers’ charges came to light Oct. 3 last year when Deardoff-Rogers approached a Baxter County deputy sheriff on routine patrol just after 2 a.m. She told the deputy she and her children had been at Rogers’ home when he became agitated and shoved her against a wall.
She said while she was packing her belongings in an attempt to leave the house, Rogers had gone into the kitchen and came out carrying a large butcher’s knife. She said Rogers threatened to kill the couple’s unborn child by stabbing her in the stomach.
At one point during the altercation, Rogers was alleged to have followed his now wife into the bedroom, grabbed her by the throat, punched her in the face and took her cellphone so she could not call for help. He was said to have threatened, “You are going to die tonight.”
Deardoff-Rogers said her attacker tried to apologize for the incident, but she told him she was leaving. Rogers was alleged to have prevented her from exiting the bedroom. She waited for him to fall asleep, slipped out with her children, saw the deputy and reported what had happened.
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