Suspect in Styles lounge slaying will go on trial

The prosecution has at least one eyewitness to the shooting.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- It was almost one year ago when Elliott Andre Campbell, 27, of Hermitage, died of a gunshot wound to the back after a fight at Styles Restaurant & amp; Lounge in Sharon.
On Monday, the suspect, Michael A. Rogers, 30, of Sharon, goes on trial in the case.
Rogers faces charges of criminal homicide and carrying a firearm without a license. The prosecution isn't seeking the death penalty, said Atty. James Epstein, Mercer County District Attorney.
The trial was scheduled for January but got postponed as defense counsel sought to have statements Rogers made to police after his arrest ruled inadmissible as evidence.
Epstein said Common Pleas Judge Francis J. Fornelli ruled that most of those statements will be allowed to be presented to the jury.
Police said Rogers' statements didn't amount to a confession, but could be considered incriminating.
An eyewitness to the June 16, 2003, early morning shooting testified at a preliminary hearing in September that she saw Rogers fire one shot from a handgun at Campbell as Campbell ran out of Styles Lounge on Budd Street around 1:45 a.m.
Witness's account
Shawna Barnett, who said she knew both Rogers and Campbell, said Rogers was already at the lounge when Campbell arrived minutes before the shooting.
She said she spoke with Campbell as he entered the bar and he was in a good mood.
Minutes later, she heard a scuffle and turned to see Campbell and a man she knows as Michael Polite fighting.
Polite was knocked to the floor and Rogers tried to intervene, she said, adding that Campbell knocked him down as well.
As Rogers got up, he pulled out a semiautomatic handgun, cocked it and pointed it at Campbell, Barnett said, noting she was only 10 feet away.
Campbell ran for the door and Rogers fired one shot as Campbell reached the doorway, she said.
Rogers then ran after Campbell, and Barnett said she heard him fire a second shot as he exited the building.
She and others then went out the same door and Barnett said she saw Rogers running down Budd Street away from the bar.
Found victim
She spied a faint blood trail and followed it around the building to where Campbell lay in the parking lot, gasping for air, she said.
He was taken to Sharon Regional Health System, where he was pronounced dead at 2:47 a.m. that same day.
An autopsy showed he died of a single gunshot wound to the back from a .40-caliber handgun.
Rogers fled the state and it wasn't until August that he was found in Mississippi and extradited to Pennsylvania to face charges.
He has remained in Mercer County Jail without bond, pending trial.