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Two cases. Two very different sets of circumstances. The same charge: capital murder.
There is only one tragic similarity in the incidents that landed Ryan Frederick and Thomas A. Porter in jail for killing police officers in Chesapeake and Norfolk, respectively. Yet a Chesapeake grand jury's indictment this week equates Frederick's actions with the ruthlessness that Porter displayed in October 2005 in executing a Norfolk cop.
That equivalence appears to border on the absurd, though the legal process - at this stage - heavily favors the prosecutors, and though much about that night in Portlock remains shrouded in unnecessary secrecy.
The Chesapeake indictment seems an especially harsh reading of the law by the city's grand jurors, guided by the prosecution to return a capital charge against the alleged killer of Detective Jarrod Shivers. Frederick is now left to fight for his life in court, following a chaotic drug raid at his house in which only a small amount of marijuana was recovered.
Grand jury proceedings are secret, of course, and the information presented there generally shows the prosecution's case in the most favorable light. The indictment notes that Frederick "did feloniously, willfully, deliberately and premeditatedly kill and murder" the detective.
Frederick's attorney, James Broccoletti, noted that he hasn't put on a defense; that comes at trial. He has questioned, reasonably, whether his client shouldn't face lesser charges of manslaughter in the Jan. 17 killing.
It's hard to divine, after all, how Frederick and Porter could face the same capital murder charge, given such different scenarios.
Porter was convicted of executing Officer Stanley Reaves on a Park Place street in broad daylight. The officer had responded to a complaint when he approached Porter, who shot him in the head in front of several witnesses. Porter was a felon who wasn't supposed to have a gun, and facing five years for possessing it. He fled to New York after the shooting.
Frederick has said he was awakened from sleep by the noise of the raid and didn't realize police were outside his house and garage. He had no prior arrests, and police made no undercover drug buys at the house to support the raid. Frederick fired two shots, later saying he believed someone was breaking into his house (the police had knocked out a lower panel on his front door). He surrendered minutes after the shooting.
Special prosecutor Paul Ebert said Wednesday, "There's been a lot of misinformation" about the case, but he declined to mention specifics, or to do anything about it.
Residents have expressed anguish at the loss of a Chesapeake officer, as has this page, but they've also questioned the show of force by police, as has this page. In the absence of clarity from the police department or the prosecutor, this indictment, handed up by about a half-dozen Chesapeake residents, will fuel only more questions about this unsettling case.
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BHound2
I used to think the same way you do...until someone I knew was charged with a crime. I have since noticed things like a confessed criminal breaking into someones house and after admitting his crime to police, convincing them the drugs he found are worth overlooking his illegal act that brought them the info to begin with (and Shivers died). About ten days later in nearby Portsmouth, another would-be thief suffered a change of heart. The would-be thief called Portsmouth PD after breaking into a home and finding a "large pot growing operation." Unlike Frederick's house, this thief was right...there was a sophisticated hydroponics system and dozens of pot plants. We know because media were given immediate access to the site before the plants were removed for evidence (reporters even interviewed the would-be thief). Two different thieves conduct separate break-ins into two homes within miles of each other within 10 days and turn up alleged pot growing ops they report to two police departments? Such a deal! The thieves get rich, avoid prosecution and trash the 4th Amendment in one act and the police get probable cause without conducting lengthy investigations. Let's hope more th
BHOUND@: Stand up for freedom...jt
"Those who prefer freedom need to stand up for it here." I totally agree. This case is an opportunity for citizens in you community to stand up for freedom. Those who do not believe this man is being charged properly should protest the prosecutorial abuse. Over-charging an offense is a way for prosecutors to unfairly weight the process to obtain an unjust verdict. That way the penalty for the crime charged is so serious that the defendant does not dare risk a trial an pleads guilty without being guilty. It is an ugly abusive trait of fascist courts. It has become commonplace in America and it is wrong. If people in you community care about justice this is a chance to speak out. Ou judicial system has become a rubber-stamp for prosecutors; convicting the innocent with the guilty and convicting those guilty of minor offenses with major crimes. Everyone who pays taxes covers the cost of this excess; everyone who walks on the street lives at increased risk of being the victim of the rage that injustice inspires. If anyone cares, here's a chance to act, Joey Tranchina
I guess it's your point of view Joey...
The way I see it, criminals have too many rights as compared to victims and society as a whole. While I believe it is better to let a guilty person go free than to incarcerate an innocent person, victim rights cannot be ignored. I believe the restraints imposed on the police are sufficient to protect the freedoms we cherish the most. Additional restraints would force americans to hide in fear with the police helpless to protect them from the criminal element. Who do you want to determine how much freedom you have? Trained professionals or criminals? Ryan took a life, that is not in dispute. Let a jury decide if it was justified, and if not, what degree of punishment should be imposed. The Grand Jury did it's job. It only had to find probable cause and only had 1 side of the story(and most likely, not all there is to that side). The prosecution does not have to present it's entire case, only enough to reach probable cause.
bhound2
That's exactly the point! People who care about freedom know that there's not anywhere for us to move to. The U.S. is the last, best hope for freedom in the world, and if it's in jeopardy here, then we can't run; we've got to do everything we can to preserve it here. Those who want to live in a country where the government has unfettered power and decides what rights you will have, and who gets to exercise them can choose from many places to live. Those who prefer freedom need to stand up for it here.
bhound2: Dumb comment...jt
What an absurd comment. Why do some people refuse to face a fact on its face or deal with the reality behind it. Liberty in America is in terrible jeopardy. We are leaving our children at the mercy of a police state (where the police have far too much power and citizens have too few protections from abuse) The inappropriate (excessively serious) charges against this citizen are a clear example of the kind of prosecutorial abuse that a police state uses. To tell me to go live in Russia, So. Africa or China does not address America's problem; it simply attempts to obscure our problem in a childish manner. In fact, I have worked and lived in Russia and in So. Africa; I was in no way putting them forward as models of liberty, only pointing out that when it comes to incarceration America is far worse than either of them. That is a statistical fact. It is also a matter of great cruelty & too-often injustice. Also, in point of fact, I do live in Europe most of the year, where I am much freer socially than I am in America (though not economically). I actually prefer living in Europe, but I have not given up on my country. I am a citizen and I retain the right to speak my mind and repor
michaelc23657 and others
...that have been saying that we, "should not be so quick to believe conspiracy theories until all the information is out," don't understand. Those of us that know Mr Frederick through work, family and friends know that when he told his story to the news, that was everything he knew and that he told the truth. That is why you are seeing such outrage from the community in his case. If he really were a hardened criminal you wouldn't see so many folks coming to his defense.
Mr. Tranchina...
Hallelujah and Amen!
IF the facts are as you
IF the facts are as you presented them, these are my comments:
Anyone who breaks into a citizens home in the middle of the night deserves to be shot. That is not a criminal act, if a citizen has any rights at all. The fact that "a little bit of marijuana was found" is not a pretext for such a home invasion; the fact that the thug had a badge is no excuse.
"You don't know what the special prosecutor knows..." is an argument for the star chamber.
You live in a country with a higher percentage of citizens in prison that Nazi Germany or contemporary Russia, China or South Africa. Stop kidding yourselves. Liberty is lost in American because a generation of cowards and fools have accepted this sort of behavior on the part of the police to protect us from drugs, which are now everywhere. The justifications for this sort of outrage is the voice of slaves justifying slavery.
American is not merely unfree it has become pathetically complicit in its own enslavement, while paying taxes for the privilege of being victimized. I'd challenge American citizens to wake up but it's probably too late. You don' have the legal right to protect yourselves.... just keep praying for fasc
re: A little knowledge is a dangerous thing
I agree, except you seem to have made up your mind, michaelc23657. Where is your need to see more information, after all, using your words, Mr. Ryan is a "killer."
Can we say hypocrite...
In the meantime...
Yesterday a cop was chasing an unarmed man in a parking garage at Town Center and "his firearm discharged". Granted, he didn't hit the suspect, but a gun doesn't mysteriously fire itself. He won't face any discipline for shooting at an unarmed suspect but police can kick in the door of the home of a citizen with a clean record while he sleeps, and somehow the man is charged with a premeditated murder for shooting... This country is no longer for the people.