Travis Jenkins says he didn’t think Donald “Pee Wee” Rogers would die when he watched his buddy float alone, bleeding and unconscious, into the Tennessee River in April 2012.
“I thought he was OK,” Jenkins said Wednesday. “I thought he just got his [expletive] whooped.”
But boaters would later find Rogers’ lifeless body hanging over the side of that 10-foot jon boat, his head submerged in the water. Jenkins, 31, and Chance Loftis, 27, are charged with second-degree murder and aggravated cruelty to animals in the deaths of Rogers and his Yorkie terrier, Braxton.
During opening statements at Loftis’ trial Wednesday, Assistant District Attorney Jason Demastus argued that Loftis beat Rogers, left him in the boat to die and killed the dog in a fit of rage. Jenkins will be tried separately.
Defense attorney Mary Sullivan Moore, however, framed the case as a classic example of self-defense.
Travis Jenkins took the stand to describe a pleasant river trip that turned to violence in an instant.
Jenkins said he and Loftis were dropped off near the Grasshopper Creek Recreation Area in late April 2012 and met Rogers, 46, at his boat.
The older man lived sometimes in the woods, sometimes near Jenkins’ parents’ house in Cleveland, Tenn. He’d been trying to convince Jenkins to come out on the water with him for a long time.
“It was a beautiful day,” Jenkins said.
The water seemed calm and clear. All three men drank beer, they brought marijuana and Rogers took “a lot” of Xanax in the hours he spent piloting the boat, Jenkins testified.
“Seemed like he would have taken at least 10 or 12,” Jenkins said.
But as the sun set, Rogers became unsteady. When it was dark and cold and he couldn’t navigate the boat back to their campsite, Jenkins said he and Loftis got annoyed. Loftis started questioning Rogers, and Rogers flashed a knife and threatened him.
Then the boat hit something and all three men were shaken, Jenkins said.
Jenkins said the arguing between Loftis and Rogers got worse. Loftis started screaming and Rogers flashed the knife again. Loftis started pummelling the older man with his fists.
Afterward, Jenkins said, he could hear Rogers make a snoring sound and knew he was alive.
“I remember thinking in my mind, damn, he knocked him right to sleep,” Jenkins said.
Then Loftis went through Rogers’ pockets. Jenkins thought he was looking for another weapon, he said. Loftis hit the dog, who had been in the boat the whole time, with a paddle, picked him up by his fur and dropped him in the water.
“That was the end of the dog,” Jenkins said.
The two made it to shore, arranged Rogers so he wouldn’t fall out or choke on his own vomit, and let the boat and the body float away, Jenkins said.
During cross-examination, defense attorney Moore dug deep into Jenkins’ testimony, singling out the wounds on his hands — he told three separate stories about where he thinks those cuts came from, she said — and hinting that he had more of a hand in Rogers’ death than he was letting on.
“You expect everyone in this courtroom to believe that you being [at least 6 inches shorter than Loftis], that you were in between these two men, and when the boat hit that thing and ya’ll all flew out, after hours of being frustrated, looking for this campsite, and PeeWee getting drunker, and higher, and more jacked up on Xanax, that you never threw a punch?”
“That is correct,” Jenkins said.
Jenkins also testified that he tried to get away from Loftis at the shoreline because “it seemed like a bunch of trouble was following him.”
But the two men are also charged separately with aggravated burglary. Police say they broke into a nearby house. Both men were arrested in Bradley County later that day.
The burglary charges have been severed, and jurors at this trial won’t hear details of that case.
Jenkins was expected to take the stand again today as the trial headed into its third day.
Contact staff writer Claire Wiseman at cwiseman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow her on Twitter @clairelwiseman.