The second trial for a city man accused of carring out the 2016 shooting death of William Michael “Micky” Blackwell, began in the courtroom of Lycoming County Judge William Carlucci Tuesday morning.

Rogers was originally tried in September 2025, however, that trial ended in a hung jury.

In September 2023, Dawud M. Rogers, 43, was charged with homicide, aggravated assault, illegal possession of a firearm, carrying a firearm without a license and possession of an instrument of crime for the Dec. 30, 2016 shooting that occurred at an auto repair shop in the 2000 block of Boyd Street.

“The murder in this case was an act of revenge,” First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade told the jury during his opening statement.

Seven days prior to the shooting, Rogers sustained significant facial injuries during a physical altercation between himself and the victim, Wade said.

A video was then taken of the victim lying unconscious on the ground.

In an ironic twist, both required medical intervention, as the victim broke his left hand when he struck Rogers, reporting to hospital personnel that he was shadow boxing when he accidentally struck the wall, according to police testimony.

Rather than reporting the victim as the aggressor, Rogers told city police that he was hit from behind and assaulted by multiple people.

A week following the incident, Rogers spotted the victim at an auto repair shop in Newberry, where he waited until he was alone and his back turned to shoot him, the prosecution maintains.

Rogers then jogged a short distance before turning around, and seeing the victim move, fired again.

In all, Rogers fired 12 times, striking the victim seven times in the front and the back.

Rogers allegedly fled immediately, leaving behind a friend that had driven him to the repair shop, due to Rogers not possessing a drivers license.

Cell phone data not only put Rogers in the vicinity of the crime scene, but also tracked his path to Philadelphia, where his mother had a residence, Wade told the jury.

“The defendant had his face rearranged by the victim. He was humiliated and embarrassed, and a week later, there was a fatal shooting,” Wade said.

“What is in dispute is if my client, Dawud Rogers, was the shooter,” defense attorney Robert Hoffa said in his opening to the jury.

“The credibility of the witnesses is key to this case,” he said, focusing in on the witness who had driven Rogers to the auto shop that day.

“No one else has named Dawud as the shooter. Not one officer said that they saw him with a gun or fire any shots,” Hoffa said.

“All of the prosecution’s evidence will come from the witness stand,” Hoffa stressed.

“We don’t have to present a thing, but if something comes out from a prosecution witness that favors defense arguments, you can consider that,” he said.

A nearby residence testified that she witnessed the shooting while attempting to park along Boyd Street.

The shooter, described as tall and thin, clad in all black and wearing a ski mask approached a man standing at the rear of a white vehicle and fired several shots into him, and initially walked away, before returning and firing several more shots, subsequently fleeing in what she described as a gray or silver vehicle.

Surveillance video from a nearby social club captured the shooting around 3 p.m., showed a mechanic escorting the victim to his vehicle before returning to the shop to retrieve the vehicle’s keys, leaving the alleged victim alone at the car.

Subsequent moments on video corroborated the testimony of the resident.

The mechanic seen in the video testified that after returning to the shop to receive the vehicle’s keys, he heard many rounds of gunfire, followed by a pause and then six or more shots.

A pathologist report entered into evidence stated that the victim was struck in the right wrist, right arm, chest, abdomen and back.

Several internal organs were damaged by the bullets, including the victim’s intestines, kidney, lung and cervical vertebrae, according to the report.

The witness who was with Rogers throughout the day of the shooting stated that Rogers had asked him about acquiring inspection stickers for a car he recently purchased.

Later that afternoon, the witness drove himself and Rogers to the auto shop in Roger’s vehicle, a blue-ish Volkswagon, where the witness entered the shop, followed by the victim, who had arrived independent of the other two. That witness was a main focus for Hoffa.

Questioned on why he told his mother he may be in need of a lawyer shortly after the shooting, the witness said it was simply because he was there.

Police attempted to question the witness at the scene, however, he told them he did not want to talk, he testified.

Drug charges filed against the witness shortly after an initial “off the record” police interview were subsequently dropped just two months later in October 2017, Hoffa said.

Asked about the existence of any email chain between a former Assistant District Attorney and the investigating agent, the witness denied ever voicing interest in cooperating in the investigation.

He further denied any expectation of benefit for testifying, though Hoffa pointed out that he still faces a pending possession with intent to deliver charge out of Schuylkill County.

The witness was at times combat with Hoffa as he pleaded the fifth in relation to the charge.

When pressed by Hoffa as to whether he or Rogers had received word that the victim would be at the repair shop, the witness denied any such forewarning.

He also denied having seen a gun or mask in the vehicle prior to the shooting.

During the preliminary hearing, as well as a Feb. 13, 2017 police interrogation, the witness stated that he did not recognize the shooter because he was wearing a mask, Hoffa argued.

“I’m not Superman. I can’t see through clothes,” the witness said during the preliminary hearing.

However, the witness stated that Rogers had been the only passenger in the vehicle that day.

Primary investigator former city police detective testified that a search warrant on Rogers’ phone records revealed that he had been in contact with the victim with the witness just prior to the shooting, as well as just over an hour and a half later and in the early morning hours of the next day.

A female witness who was dating the victim at the time of the shooting, called by First Assistant District Attorney Martin Wade, testified that he had sent her a text message at 1:36 a.m. on Dec. 23, 2016, relating that he had been involved in some type of incident, though he refused to explain what that incident was by text message. The victim then texted an image of his x-ray, further stating that he hoped the other person involved wouldn’t report the incident to police, she said.

“Dawud is what happened to my hand,” the victim eventually relinquished, the witness testified.

The victim later displayed keys that said belonged to Rogers, the witness said.

The trial is scheduled to reconvene at 9 a.m. Wednesday.