A state appeals court has denied a Monroe County woman’s appeal of her conviction of third-degree murder and sentence.

Barbara Rogers, 46, was convicted in June 2019 of shooting to death her boyfriend, Stephen Mineo, 32, in an apartment they shared in Coolbaugh Township. The shooting occurred on July 15, 2017.

Authorities said she shot Mineo in the forehead from point-blank range.

Pocono Mountain Regional Police said Rogers told officers that Mineo asked her to kill him because he believed the leader of the cult was a “reptilian” pretending to be a human.

She called the shooting accidental, saying she didn’t know the gun was loaded.

The case garnered national interest because of the involvement by the defendant and her victim in an online cult founded by the late Sherry Shriner of Ohio. Rogers had claimed to members of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department that it was stress brought about by Shriner and her followers attacks on Rogers which resulted in the shooting. Shriner had accused Rogers of being a reptilian and a witch and had warned Mineo that his life was in danger.

Officials said Mineo, for his part, defended Rogers against the cult and was ostracized.

Jurors in Monroe County deliberated for nine hours before convicting Rogers of third-degree murder. On June 10, 2019, she was sentenced to serve 15 to 40 years in a state correctional institution.

Following the sentencing, she appealed to the county court, which rejected it, and then to the state Superior Court, which has now has affirmed the conviction and sentence imposed.

In her appeal, Rogers requested reconsideration of sentence, and requested a new trial on four grounds: (1) the verdict was against the weight of the evidence; (2) the trial court improperly refused to charge the jury on involuntary manslaughter; (3) the trial court improperly ruled that Rogers could not offer a defense of diminished capacity without also admitting criminal liability; and (4) the trial court improperly denied her pretrial motion to suppress.

The state court, in a 19-page opinion which addressed the four contentions made by the defendant, affirmed the county court’s decisions at trial and the sentence imposed.

In its opinion denying the appeal, the state court noted: “In the early morning hours of July 15, 2017, Rogers and her boyfriend, Stephen Mineo, were in the studio apartment they shared together in Coolbaugh Township, Monroe County, when Rogers placed Mineo’s handgun against Mineo’s forehead and shot him once, killing Mineo.

“Twenty minutes after the shooting, Rogers called 911. Cpl. Steven Mertz and Detective Corporal Lucas Bray of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department responded to the shooting. They subsequently transported Rogers to police headquarters for questioning. During her interviews, Rogers was advised several times of her rights under Miranda, 2 and Rogers executed several written waivers of her Miranda rights.”

The case was prosecuted by First Assistant District Attorney, Michael Mancuso and Assistant District Attorney Andrew Kroeckel. The lead detectives in the case were Detective Corporal Lucas Bray and Detective John Bohrman of the Pocono Mountain Regional Police Department.

Mancuso and Kroeckel argued against the appeal, fending off challenges raised by the defense team that involuntary manslaughter should have been the proper verdict, Roger’s statements to the police should have been suppressed, that the sentence was unduly harsh, and that the verdict was against the evidence.

The court dismissed all four points of the appeal.

Finally, the court states, “Our review of the record confirms that the trial court did not abuse its discretion when it concluded that the jury’s verdict was not against the weight of the evidence. Discerning no abuse of discretion by the trial court, this claim fails.”

Rogers remains incarcerated at the Pennsylvania State Correctional Institute at Cambridge Springs.