James Rogers was a 29-year-old Black/African American man whose life ended inside his Wilmington, Delaware, home on July 23, 2015. Rogers was found in the basement of the residence in the 500 block of West 4th Street suffering from gunshot wounds to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Court records filed years later provide an even more disturbing account of the killing: the man ultimately convicted, Taushia Mitchell, acknowledged shooting Rogers twice in the head while Rogers was
asleep.
The investigation quickly focused on Mitchell, who was living in Wilmington at the time. After Rogers was killed, authorities said Mitchell took Rogers's vehicle and left Delaware. The search expanded beyond Wilmington and involved the Wilmington Police Department, Delaware Department of Justice, FBI, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. About a week after the homicide, investigators located Mitchell in New York City. He was taken into custody while in Rogers's stolen vehicle and was initially held on charges connected with the theft of that vehicle. Delaware authorities subsequently obtained a warrant charging him with first-degree murder and began the process of returning him to Delaware.
The criminal case against Mitchell eventually went beyond the initial murder accusation. In October 2015, a Delaware grand jury indicted him on charges that included first-degree murder, possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, theft of a motor vehicle, felony theft, and possession of a firearm by a person prohibited. The prosecution therefore alleged not only that Mitchell intentionally killed Rogers, but that he committed firearm offenses and took property belonging to Rogers after the homicide.
The case proceeded toward a jury trial in June 2017. A jury was selected and sworn, and testimony began, but the case did not reach a jury verdict. During the third day of trial, Mitchell accepted a negotiated resolution. He pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of second-degree murder and to possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. Under the agreement, the remaining charges were dismissed. The negotiated sentencing recommendation called for 35 years of unsuspended incarceration. Mitchell ultimately received 30 years to serve for the murder conviction followed by a consecutive five-year term for the firearm offense, for a total of 35 years in prison, followed by two years of probation.
Publicly available records do not establish a clearly proven motive for the killing at the time investigators arrested Mitchell. Years later, however, Mitchell raised allegations that Rogers had physically and sexually abused him and other people and argued that those circumstances should have been given greater weight in determining his punishment. Those claims appeared in Mitchell's attempts to have his sentence reduced and should be understood as allegations made by Mitchell rather than a judicial finding that the alleged abuse occurred. The Superior Court noted that information concerning the allegations had already been available to the sentencing judge and therefore was not newly discovered evidence. The court also recorded Mitchell's admission that he shot Rogers while Rogers was sleeping.
Mitchell repeatedly sought a reduction or modification of his sentence after his conviction. Courts rejected motions filed in 2017 and 2018, another attempt in 2023, and additional motions filed in 2024. In its January 8, 2025 decision, the Delaware Superior Court again refused to reduce the sentence, finding the requests untimely and repetitive and determining that the arguments presented did not establish extraordinary circumstances warranting relief. The court also concluded that 18 years of the sentence consisted of statutory mandatory minimum imprisonment that could not simply be suspended. As a result, the conviction and 35-year prison sentence stemming from the killing of James Rogers remained in place.
