A Miller County jury sentenced DaRoyce Rodgers to 25 years in prison Wednesday for fleeing from the courthouse following a jury trial in 2015.
Rodgers, 38, was found guilty of possession of cocaine with the purpose to deliver by a jury on March 31, 2015. After being sentenced, Rodgers was allowed to give his mother a hug.
Rodgers knocked her down and jumped over a wooden railing separating court staff and attorneys from the audience. Rodgers lost one shoe and dropped his pocket Bible as he ran from the courtroom.
According to a probable cause affidavit, he was picked up in Dallas by U.S. Marshals in September 2015.
The jury convicted Rodgers of felony escape Wednesday but acquitted him of two counts of battery involving two court security officers who fell to the floor trying to stop Rodgers when he fled.
Circuit Judge Brent Haltom ordered the term Rodgers received for escape to run consecutive to the sentence of 20 years he received in 2015, Chief Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Connie Mitchell said.
Rodgers was represented by Little Rock attorney Jordan Tinsley. Deputy Prosecuting Attorneys Teresa Severns and Jeffery Sams prosecuted Rodgers’ case this week.
