I'm "Late to the Party" on this topic, and the situation is so complex that I can't make sense of it without giving you the background in excruciating detail.
Since I've spent the last 2 hours following the thread of this story (which started about 9 months ago in January, 2008), the best I can do for you is to provide the intro, and the links, and let you follow the breadcrumbs.
The primary source is Reason, which I consider a responsible on-line magazine. A word of caution: there are under stories which you may discover, as I did, as you read. Note that I don't always agree with Reason, and my inclusion of their source material should not be interpreted as an endorsement of their position. It is, after all, an "Opinion Magazine". I'll show the links as I followed them originally, for the sake of brevity.
(H/T: Captain of a Crew of One)
Another Drug Raid Nightmare
The railroading of Ryan Frederick
March 18, 2008
Imagine you're home alone.Here's the background, and remember that this is almost single-source:
It's 8 p.m. You work an early shift and need to be out the door before sunrise, so you're already in bed. Your nerves are a bit frazzled, because earlier in the week someone broke into your home. Oddly, they didn't take anything; they just rifled through your belongings.
But the violation weighs on your mind. At about the time you drift off, you're awakened by fierce barking from your two large dogs. You hear someone crashing into your front door, as if he's trying to separate it from its hinges. You grab the gun you keep for home defense and leave your room to investigate.
This past January that scenario played out at the Chesapeake, Virginia, home of 28-year-old Ryan Frederick, a slight man of little more than 100 pounds. According to interviews since the incident, Frederick says when he looked toward his front door, he saw an intruder trying to enter through one of the lower door panels. So Frederick fired his gun.
The intruders were from the Chesapeake Police Department. They had come to serve a drug warrant. Frederick's bullet struck Detective Jarrod Shivers in the side, killing him. Frederick was arrested and has spent the last six weeks in a Chesapeake jail.
He has been charged with first degree murder. Paul Ebert, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, has indicated he may elevate the charge to capital murder, which would enable the state to seek the death penalty.
Ryan Frederick is a single man, living alone in a
He retrieves his bedside gun and fires through the door. He hits the intruder, killing them.
The intruder is a detective on the local (Virginia) police force.
The detective is part of a LEO team engaged in a "No Knock" entry on the home of a suspected drug dealer.
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The police have a warrant, based on a confidential informant who, 3 days earlier, had entered Ryan's detached garage and reported that he had "grow lamps, digital scales" and other Marijuana-growing supplies and equipment. The police were under the impression that Ryan was a Marijuana grower.
There is no documented evidence that the police had made an effort to establish that Ryan was Dealer. They found no equipment which is specific to Marijuana cultivation: Ryan's neighbors confirm that he is a "gardener" and has, among other plants, a Japanese Maple (which, in early growth stage, exhibits green leaves suggesting a Marijuana plant. The small tree is found planted in his yard.
The police have a dead officer (body armor was worn by all police); the dead policeman was found to have been hit by a single shot through the arm and under the arm, into an area which was not protected by the body armor.
A .380 pistol was found on the premises, along with three (?) empty cartridges. Also, as a recent development, an empty cartridge case in .223 caliber was found. This has not as yet been satisfactorily explained.
The police contend that they announced that they were police. The neighbors, some of whom were outside and observing he entry, state that they did not hear the announcement. Because Ryan stated that he was in bed, going to sleep, could/would he have heard the announcement?
We don't know this, and we don't know a lot of the nuances of the event.
One recent development (June, 2008) is that the 'confidential informant' was a man named 'Stephen'. He was dating the sister of Ryan's fiance', and seemed to have "issues" with Ryan. Stephen is also a felon, and he seemed to have effected the earlier entry in company with another felon, 'Reggie', who has a record of prior arrests.
Ryan has no record of prior arrests, but his family and neighbors admit that he was a recreational user of Marijuana ... although no evidence (other than a small amount of Marijuana on the premises) exists to support the supposition that he either grew Marijuana nor sold Drugs of any kind.
Here is s summary of links from Reason; the latest entry is in June of 2008.
May 29, 2008: testimony in the case.
September 10, 2008: the latest commentary I can find on the case.
September 16, 2008: A blog article on the case.
September 17, 2008: GOOGLE search results on "Ryan Frederick"
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What's the Real Story?
I don't know. The courts don't know. The courts don't know. The police aren't telling. The dead policeman is a victim, but a victim of what? We don't know.
The 'perpetrator', Ryan Frederick, is a victim, but a victim of what? We don't know.
Before today, I wasn't even aware of this situation. I have no perspective to offer.
You'll just have to choose whether to ignore it, or to follow it. That's what I'm doing, too.
That's the same situation we find ourselves in the Olofson Case (see here and here).
That's also the same situation we find ourselves in the Campeos and Ramos Case (see here and here.)
For that matter, that's the same situation we find ourselves in Akins Accelerator case (see here and here.)
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Before we go overboard listing similar cases, it seems reasonable to ask what are the common denominators in these situations?
The common denominator is that these are situations where a private individual finds himself overwhelmed by a Public agency ... the ATF, a local police force ... whatever.
Somehow, we (the citizens) have found ourselves the victims of them (the government). This wasn't the way it was suppose to be, but we now must of necessity defend ourselves against the predations of our own 'public servants'.
I'm not even going to try to justify the awkward situation of "Red's Trading Post". (search here, see denouement here?)
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UPDATE: 19-OCT-2008
Rick of IFAQ has more current information about the Prosecutor requesting a change of venue.
Also, applied the correction about home ownership provided by Don Tabor
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