Natalie Rogers, accused of fatally shooting her partner during a domestic dispute in 2021, talks Thursday with defense counsel Amy Young in Jackson County Circuit.

A Medford woman was sentenced to probation and time spent in the Jackson County Jail for the 2021 shooting death of her intimate partner during a fight in her garage.

Natalie Rogers, 32, pleaded no contest Monday to a charge of criminally negligent homicide for killing her partner of four months, 34-year-old Barton Joseph Gonzalez, during an argument the night of Nov. 4, 2021, at her home in the 2000 block of Smokethorn Way, according to a news release issued by Jackson County Chief Deputy District Attorney Patrick Green.

As terms of a negotiated plea agreement, the Jackson County District Attorney’s Office dropped charges of second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Criminally negligent homicide is the least severe homicide charge under Oregon law. 

The altercation leading up to Gonzalez’s death began with an argument in which Rogers accused her partner of infidelity, the release said. Gonzalez went to the garage to pack up his things, where the couple argued over tools. Rogers left the garage and returned with a gun.

Rogers claimed she grabbed her handgun after Gonzalez swung a Skil saw at her, but missed. As she pointed the gun at him, Gonzalez came after her with a hammer. He reportedly told her, “You better not stop because I’m not going to,” according to the release.

She ultimately fired a single, fatal round into the center of his chest.

Rogers’ lawyers intended to argue self-defense, but the release issued by Green noted that during the investigation, Rogers “provided inconsistent versions of what occurred to law enforcement in an apparent attempt to cast her actions in the best light possible.”

As an example, Rogers initially told investigators that when she came back out to the garage the gun was tucked in her waistband. Only later did she admit to holding the firearm during the altercation, Green wrote.

Prosecutors argued that she became the aggressor when she withdrew from the argument only to return with the gun.

Complicating the case were multiple documented reports of law enforcement responding to domestic violence and intimate partner abuse during the course of their relationship starting Sept. 15, the release said.

Leading up to a trial slated for September, Rogers’ defense lawyers had planned to draw from an 86-page report from an independent investigator determining that Rogers was a victim of intimate partner violence, and that her lethal risk of dying at the hands of Gonzalez was in the highest possible category.

The DA’s office hired its own expert for a second opinion, but the expert was not able to dispute its findings, Green wrote.

Judge Pro Tem Paul Moser sentenced Rogers to 30 months in the custody of the Oregon Department of Corrections with credit for time served followed by three years of post-prison supervision. Rogers was held in jail from Jan. 12, 2022 until Monday.