None of the security guards were armed when they confronted Rogers, prosecutors said. “Are you willing to die over this?” Poutasi recalled the suspect yelling as more security guards arrived, piling on top of the robber in a fight for control of the weapon. She said he grabbed Dougherty by the shoulders “and threw her down” to the floor. On the stand, McGrath said she and her coworker, 63-year-old Priscilla Dougherty, were getting ready to open the sportsbook when a man in dark clothing jumped behind the counter, announcing he had a gun.
These are “minor details which aren’t as conclusive as the government would like,” he said. In his opening statement Tuesday, he asked the jury to give less weight to what he called “so what?” evidence, like the color of the vehicles used in the robberies.
Rogers’ attorney, Richard Pocker, has said the government’s evidence in the two robberies before the heist at the Rio is weak.
A department spokesperson said last week that Rogers has been on unpaid leave “without police powers,” pending the outcome of the trial, which began Monday and is expected to last through the end of the week. At the time of the heists, Rogers was employed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as an active-duty patrol officer.
