Rogers trial – Day 3: Who was the aggressor?

CHASKA – Tissues made their way through members of the gallery crowd Thursday morning as Joe Wannebo returned to the stand and recalled the words he yelled across a parking lot to an injured Jason Foster moments after he was allegedly stabbed by Jesse Rogers.

Rogers faces a second-degree murder charge in the fatal stabbing of Jason Foster outside of Kelley’s Bar in downtown Chaska during the early morning hours of June 3. 

“What were you saying?” Carver County Attorney Mark Metz asked the 27-year-old Wannebo. 

“I was yelling ‘Stay alive.’ ‘Listen to me,'” Wannebo stated as tears formed in his eyes and his voice began to break. “To not die, stay awake.”

Wannebo spent his second day on the stand Thursday, undergoing more direct questioning by Metz and an intense cross examination by defense counsel J. Anthony Torres. 

Wannebo testified that he saw Rogers toss a knife into the bushes as the police arrived on the scene following the stabbing. He also reiterated his memories of an injured Foster defying an officer’s orders to get on the ground. Wannebo said that he was eventually able to get Foster to the ground himself where he began applying pressure to his wounds. 

“He was going in and out of consciousness,” Wannebo testified, adding that Foster kept saying, “I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die.”

On cross examination, Torres pointed out a number of inconsistencies between Wannebo’s original statements to police and his testimony in court. He questioned how much effect his level of intoxication had on his memory.  

“You were so intoxicated you can’t remember what you drank or how much,” Torres stated. 

Torres went on to detail the fight inside Kelley’s Bar prior to the stabbing in the parking lot. “You were the aggressor at that point weren’t you?” he asked. 

“Yes,” Wannebo replied. 

“You punched (Rogers), didn’t you?” Torres continued. 

“I’m not happy about it,” Wannebo answered. “I wish I could go back and change things…I would take Alyssa (Carlson) and walk out of the bar.” 

Though his questions were stricken from the record, Torres managed to accuse Wannebo of having anger management issues and being prone to rage. He also brought to light a previous assault by Wannebo towards one of his mother’s allegedly abusive boyfriends, which Torres said resulted in Wannebo leaving the military with a general discharge less than honorable. Wannebo disputed that claim. 

“You don’t stand by idly in situations like the one in this bar, do you?” Torres asked. 

“No,” Wannebo replied. 

Torres used his questioning of Wannebo to suggest a scenario different than that of what Wannebo testified to through Metz’s direct questioning. Torres suggested a scenario where Wannebo and his friends remained the aggressors that night, threatening Rogers and physically assaulting him to the point in the parking lot where Rogers feared for his life and struck out at Foster in self-defense. 

On re-direct, Wannebo testified that Rogers did not appear fearful by the tone of his voice or the comments he made in the parking lot. Wannebo said that the group’s intention in the parking lot was not to assault Rogers, but to get him to leave. 

EXPERT TESTIMONY

The remainder of the day Thursday was devoted to expert testimony by employees from the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA). 

Forensic scientist Alyssa Banse testified as to the evidence that she did DNA analysis on for the case including a number of pieces of clothing collected that night. 

The defense spent their time on cross examination questioning why certain items of evidence were tested while others were not. 

Testimony concluded with Lindsey Garfield, a BCA employee who was the crime scene lead on June 3. 

Garfield detailed the BCA’s general methods for processing a crime scene. She also testified as to the specifics of what evidence they collected from the scene, where it was found, the results of any lab analysis and what observations they were able to make from it.

Garfield will be back on the stand Friday. The prosecution also plans to call the physician from St. Francis Medical Center that treated Rogers and his brother McCarther McGarry. The jury is expected to take a field trip to the site of the crime on Friday afternoon, weather permitting.