INDIANAPOLIS — A Marion County judge denied a teen's request to withdraw his guilty plea in the murder of an Indianapolis doctor.
Marion County County Prosecutor's Office spokesperson Michael Leffler said Judge Barbara Cook Crawford upheld the plea agreement Seats signed in January.
Seats, 19, surprised the courtroom earlier this month at what was expected to be his sentencing hearing when he asked to backtrack on his guilty plea in the 2017 killing of Dr. Kevin Rodgers. As part of the plea agreement, Seats faces 50 years in jail.
A sentencing hearing for Seats will be held at 1:30 p.m. March 12.
Three others have already pleaded guilty to burglary charges and have been sentenced.
Seats was 16 years old when Rodgers was shot to death. According to investigators, Rodgers was at his home on the northwest side of Indianapolis and confronted four people when they broke in. He was shot and his body was found by his wife.
The 61-year-old Indianapolis doctor specialized in emergency medicine and was President of the American Academy of Emergency Medicine at the time of his death. He served as a volunteer doctor on medical missions to Haiti and was a team doctor at Cathedral High School where he helped coach the lacrosse team for many years.
