Frederick murder trial opens Tuesday in Chesapeake

CHESAPEAKE

Just three days past the one-year anniversary of the killing of Chesapeake police Detective Jarrod Shivers, a jury beginning Tuesday will be asked to decide whether a man accused of dealing marijuana intentionally fired the fatal shot.

Shivers, 34, a father of three who served eight years on the force, was shot and killed a year ago Saturday while raiding the Portlock home of Ryan Frederick, then a 28-year-old soda truck driver.

Frederick will stand trial on charges of capital murder, use of a firearm during the commission of murder and manufacturing marijuana.

A jury will be asked to decide whether Frederick intentionally killed Shivers. To convict Frederick of capital murder, the jury will have to find that Frederick's action was "willful, deliberate and premeditated," according to state law.

Frederick will claim self-defense, that he was protecting his home and his life, said his lead attorney, James O. Broccoletti. He will show that his house was burglarized just days earlier - by two men gathering evidence for the police - and he feared his Redstart Avenue home was being broken into again, his attorney said.

If convicted of capital murder, Frederick will face an automatic sentence of life in prison. The special prosecutor in the case previously announced he would not seek a death sentence.

Frederick could be convicted of a lesser offense, such as first-degree murder, which carries a penalty of 20 years to life in prison, or manslaughter, which carries a term of zero to 10 years.

Broccoletti had success in a similar case. Three years ago he gained a self-defense acquittal in the murder case against Navy SEAL Ronald J. Gasper, who killed another SEAL.

Shivers' death and Frederick's arrest have drawn intense public interest. Frederick's friends have launched a "free Ryan" campaign, even establishing a MySpace page in his name.

The attorneys involved say pretrial publicity will likely cause a lengthy jury selection process - from one to three days, they estimated. Prosecutors at one point tried unsuccessfully to move the trial outside of the region.

The evidence will be hotly contested. The media have already exposed inconsistencies between what witnesses and police say.

Two burglars broke into Frederick's house days before the raid. One of them, Renaldo Turnbull Jr., told The Virginian-Pilot they broke in to gather evidence for police of Frederick's alleged marijuana growing operation. A handful of marijuana plants Turnbull said they took, however, never made it to police custody.

Police officials have said they did not condone or approve of the burglary.

The other burglar has been identified by multiple sources and court records as Steven Rene Wright, a 20-year-old one-time restaurant worker now sitting in jail facing unrelated Chesapeake charges of grand larceny and credit card theft. Wright and Turnbull have been subpoenaed to testify at the Frederick trial.

Wright last week agreed to an interview with a Pilot reporter but backed off when the reporter arrived at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center, where he's being held. He did the same thing several months ago.

Also in dispute is whether police, including Shivers, fired any shots during the raid. Police have said officers did not fire their weapons, but a stray bullet casing that did not belong to Frederick was discovered at the scene. There is forensic evidence, also disputed, of gunpowder residue on Shivers' hand, possibly indicating that he fired his weapon. Police maintain the casing fell out of an officer's clothing.

Broccoletti said the credibility of Frederick, the burglars and police will be crucial to the case.

"The defendant has been consistent since his arrest that he did not know the police were at his door," Broccoletti said last week. "He was protecting himself and his home from an intruder who was capable of causing great bodily harm to him."

Special Prosecutor Paul Ebert, who was brought in from Prince William County to try the case, is expected to show that Frederick knew the police would be coming to his house. He said in an interview last week that he will show that the police acted properly.

"From my experience, I don't think the police department could have done anything differently," Ebert said, adding that he was confident of getting a conviction.

"You never know what's going to happen in a court of law but certainly I feel like it's a prosecutable case," he said.

Also subpoenaed for the trial were five jail inmates who evidently had conversations with Frederick about the shooting. One of them is Marlon Reed, a Norfolk gang leader who already got one break on his sentence after testifying against co-defendants in his federal racketeering case.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com