By John Garlock
Wednesday, July 08, 2009 at 7:07 p.m.
Read more: Local, Kirksville, Perjury, Suspect, Bond Reduced, Bond, Earlene Rogers, Glen Johnson
KIRKSVILLE, MO. -- A Kirksville man who spent eight months in jail falsely accused of rape is not too pleased to hear his accuser had her bond reduced this week and was released from jail after posting just 10 percent of her original bond amount.
Earlene Rogers, 19, of Brashear is facing several counts of perjury, accused of lying to investigators and telling them that Kirksville residents Glen Johnson and Tim Rogers had raped her.
After her arrest earlier this year, Rogers’ bond was set at $25,000 cash only.
On Monday, Judge Russell Steele granted the defendant's request for a bond reduction to 10 percent cash, or $2,500.
As part of her release, Earlene Rogers is now under house arrest at her father's home outside Brashear.
Glen Johnson is very upset with this week’s developments.
Reporter: "Would you have settled for house arrest?" Glen Johnson said, "Absolutely, it would have been great, you know. I would have at least been seeing my family and my kids and stuff. It would have been really nice," said Johnson.
Court documents indicate that Earlene Rogers can’t leave her father’s house except to meet with her attorney, to attend court and for necessary medical care.
We talked to Judge Russell Steele about his decision to reduce bond.
He KTVO that for ethical reasons he can't comment on a specific case, but he said in general terms, he has to take a number of criteria into consideration in each case that comes before him.
He said, among other things, he has to consider the nature of the crime and decide if the suspect poses a threat to the crime victim, to the community or to another person.
Glen Johnson said he doesn’t care why the decision was made, he just thinks it’s completely unfair.
"I feel like there's something wrong with the judicial system around Adair County...Maybe not just here, but other places maybe, too. It just doesn't seem exactly right when one person's in for eight months for nothing, and they didn't have any evidence, and they didn't have any evidence, and it seems like there should be some evidence in this (Earlene Roger's perjury case)," said Johnson.
