Altoona man convicted of murder challenges denial of appeal
Rodgers serving 40-year prison term for murder of Altoona man 38 years ago
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James Franklin Rodgers, an Altoona man who is serving a prison term of 40 years to life for a murder he committed when he was 17, will challenge the denial of his latest appeal by a federal district judge.
Rodgers, who is now 56 and an inmate in the State Correctional Institution in Somerset County, this past week filed a notice of his intent to appeal the decision issued in October by Chief U.S. District Judge in Western Pennsylvania, Cathy Bissoon.
Bissoon on Oct. 18 rejected Rodgers' habeas corpus petition that his conviction of murder in the first degree be vacated.
Rodgers has been behind bars for the past 38 years for the murder of an Altoona man, Pasquale "Patsy" Lascoli, 72, during a home invasion robbery.
Upon his conviction in 1988, Rodgers was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole by Judge Ellis Van Horn Jr., of Bedford County, specially presiding in Blair County.
The victim in the case was stabbed more than 70 times.
The Lascoli murder was among the first cases in Pennsylvania in which DNA was used to solve a murder.
Lascoli's blood was found on clothes that Rodgers was allegedly wearing the night of the murder.
Rodgers' blood was also found on the inside of a pocket where Lascoli kept his wallet.
Rodgers has filed many appeals since his conviction, including one based on a 2012 U.S. Supreme Court ruling (Miller v. Alabama) which found a life without parole sentence of a juvenile violated the constitutional bar against cruel and unusual punishment.
After a hearing, Rodgers was resentenced to a term of 40 years to life.
His 40-year minimum will expire in two years.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Kirk J. Henderson led the defense team in the recent review of the Rodgers case.
The defense presented 24 issues for review by Bissoon, as well as an 118-page habeas corpus petition seeking vacation of the murder conviction.
The habeas petition argued that no testimony was presented that placed Rodgers at the scene of the murder and noted he has never confessed to the killing.
Rodgers knew Lascoli, who was a friend of Rodgers' mother.
Bissoon in her opinion focused on two issues: a contention the jury may have been prejudiced against Rodgers because of paper that the jury possessed during deliberations that showed Rodgers had been placed in the Blair County Detention Home on a robbery charge and that police improperly interviewed Rodgers about a cut on his hand without an attorney present.
Bissoon rejected the defense arguments asking her to vacate the jury's verdict.
She denied Rodgers' habeas petition and rejected his request that would allow him to appeal further on the issues involving his case.
Henderson this past week filed a notice that Rodgers intended to seek review of the case by the Third Circuit of Appeals, challenging Bissoon's denial of the Writ of Habeas Corpus and her denial of a certificate of appealability.