A Colorado Springs man is headed to prison because he tried to hide evidence and influence witnesses after learning that his son and brother were involved in a 2015 fatal shooting of a 14-year-old boy in Memorial Park.
Raymond Rogan Sr. will serve four to eight years under a plea bargain in which he agreed to plead guilty to accessory to murder in the July 2015 slaying of North Middle School student Desmond Smith.
The deal tossed several counts against him and averted a trial scheduled to begin Tuesday. Had a jury convicted Rogan Sr., 37, on all counts, he could have faced up to 24 years in prison because of sentence enhancers triggered by prior felony convictions, his attorney said.
He is scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 2 by 4th Judicial District Judge Larry E. Schwartz.
The boy died when Rogan Sr.’s brother, Riccardo “Ricky” Kirven, opened fire at a trio of boys in Memorial Park from inside a car as part of a dispute over a missing cell phone.
The phone belonged to Rogan Sr.’s son, Raymond Rogan Jr., who was driving when Kirven reached through the passenger window with a semiautomatic pistol and began shooting, authorities said.
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