Murder defendants' lawyers blame victim's murdered brother

THE ONE PERSON who loved 17-year-old Tremaine Rogers more than anyone else didn't show up at the trial for the men accused of his murder yesterday.

That's because Aaron Rogers, Tremaine's best friend and brother, met the same fate as his sibling did in 2013 when he was shot to death earlier this year.

The Daily News profiled Tremaine in a cover story in 2013 about the local men whose killings were largely ignored in the wake of the not-guilty verdict in the Trayvon Martin case. Aaron, then 19, talked at length with the Daily News about his brother's shooting and about how much he missed Tremaine, whom he affectionately called "Tree."

About 6 p.m. Jan. 14, Aaron was shot in the face outside Vincent's Pizza, at 65th Street near Lansdowne Avenue in West Philly. He died the next day at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

Aaron's slaying remains unsolved, and his absence at the trial for his brother's killing, to which he was a key witness, was keenly apparent, except, perhaps, to the jury, which was not informed of Aaron's slaying during opening remarks, despite several mentions of his name.

In their openings, the attorneys for defendants Robert Anderson, 29, and Tyreek Hall, 27, placed the blame for the shooting on Aaron, whom they claim provoked Hall to fire in self-defense.

Assistant District Attorney John O'Neil said that the shooting stemmed from a "nothing" fight and that Tremaine's killing was "the most senseless type of murder you can imagine . . . even by the standards of what you see in Philadelphia."

O'Neil and defense attorneys Richard Giuliani and Jack McMahon agree on this: Tremaine was killed in broad daylight while playing basketball with Aaron and two of their friends in the driveway of the Rogers' Overbrook home on July 13, 2013.

They also agree that Tremaine was an innocent victim and that Hall was the one who killed him by firing seven shots that day. They disagree, however, on why he opened fire.

According to O'Neil, in the hours before the shooting, two of the Rogers' friends got into a small fight with two other neighborhood boys.

When Aaron Rogers learned of the fight, he went back to the block and knocked on doors, speaking with adult relatives of the other children involved to make sure that the incident did not go any further, O'Neil said.

But the other two boys in the fight made some calls of their own, and Hall and Anderson allegedly became involved. They drove to the Rogers brothers' home to speak with the boys, O'Neil said.

"It was over with the kids but these two were just getting started," O'Neil said.

When Anderson didn't get the answers he wanted from the boys and the Rogers brothers, he told Hall to "get busy with these motherf---ers" and Hall opened fire, O'Neil said.

"It escalated from a stupid fist fight to these guys murdering a kid," he said. "This is first-degree murder, all day long."

Giuliani, who represents Hall, told the jury this is "not a whodunit" but a "why?" He said that Aaron had a gun that day and threatened Hall and Anderson with it, which is why shots were fired.

"He was faced with being shot himself," Giuliani said of his client.

McMahon, who represents Anderson, said his client did not have a weapon and went to the Rogerses' home to put an end to the violence that had stemmed from the "corny" fight earlier.

"This is what he's saying with his mouth: 'I don't want violence,' " McMahon said.

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