Patient Charged 2 Years After Deadly Assault at Bryce Hospital

Two years after a mentally ill but elderly veteran was beaten so severely at Tuscaloosa's Bryce Hospital that he died soon after, the younger patient who assaulted him has been charged with manslaughter.

The victim was 68-year-old Walter Rogers Jr., who was a troubled individual himself but also an Army veteran who seemingly shouldn't have been at Bryce at all at the time of the February 2023 assault because of his age and reported progress in his mental health.

His beating and death went unreported for months because it was not investigated by the multi-agency Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit, which has for decades looked into homicides in the area and kept the media and public informed about those cases.

Instead, the Alabama Department of Mental Health's internal Bureau of Special Investigations handled the case and did not give any public notice when Rogers was viciously beaten or when he died of severe brain injuries 17 days later.

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Malissa Valdes, the Public Information Officer for the Alabama Department of Mental Health, suggested in 2023 that it was standard practice to say nothing about crimes that happen in Tuscaloosa's mental hospitals, equating such notifications to sharing sensitive patient information.

"The Alabama Department of Mental Health’s mental health care facilities are healthcare facilities and patient information is protected," she said. "We do not notify media outlets of events related to patient information, as their personal information is protected."

The Thread was the only local news outlet to investigate and report Rogers' homicide, and only after using independently obtained surveillance video, dozens of separate court documents, previous reporting from other outlets about Rogers' history and the limited comment provided by the Alabama Department of Mental Health.

This Wednesday, new court documents were filed almost two years to the day since Rogers succumbed to his injuries and died in March 2023.

They show that 27-year-old Kendarious Pickett has been charged with manslaughter after a grand jury found he "did recklessly cause the death of Mr. Walter Rogers, Jr. by punching him multiple times with a closed fist and hitting his head against a wall and window."

Although the writ for Pickett's arrest was only served on Wednesday - probably because he has been in state custody at Bryce since it was issued - the court documents show it was issued on September 5th, 2023, about three weeks after the Thread's investigative report on Rogers's death was published.

The 27-year-old, who was 25 at the time he attacked Rogers, was briefly booked in the Tuscaloosa County Jail Wednesday for long enough for his mugshot to be taken before he was released for housing at the Taylor Hardin Secure Medical Facility on Jack Warner Parkway.

Now, Circuit Judge Daniel Pruet will oversee the case as the state prosecutes Pickett. As a first step, he has ordered an in-patient evaluation to determine if the young man is competent to stand trial and to judge his mental state at the time he attacked Rogers.

Only time will tell what those exams will find or if Pickett will be convicted of manslaughter, but a member of the Rogers family told the Thread they're glad charges have finally been brought against the person responsible for his death.

For more crime & courts coverage and other news from west Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.