The State : Sentencing in Death of Baby

A man who posed as a woman so he could adopt a handicapped infant he later was convicted of beating to death was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison. Greg Thomas Rogers, 30, was sentenced for second-degree murder after a non-jury trial before Alameda County Superior Court Judge David Lee. Co-defendant Alvin Woodard, 25, who posed as his husband, earlier was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison under a plea bargain. Prosecutor Mary Jane Tocci said Rogers and Woodard took out a life insurance policy on the baby six weeks before the toddler’s death. Investigators said the child was beaten with a shoe and shaken violently after suffering a seizure at the men’s home on June 12, 1986.