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Radley Balko | January 30, 2008, 10:20pm
Ryan Frederick was arraigned today. He was charged with first-degree murder, use of a firearm in the commission of a felony, and . . . simple possession of marijuana.
That's right. Though police still haven't told us how much marijuana they found, it wasn't enough to charge Frederick with anything more than a misdemeanor. For a misdemeanor, they broke down his door, a cop is dead, and a 28-year-old guy's life is ruined. Looks like the informant mistook Frederick's gardening hobby for an elaborate marijuana growing operation, and those Japanese maple trees for marijuana plants.
The parallels to Cory Maye are pretty striking. You've got a young guy minding his own business, with no criminal record, whose worst transgression is that he smokes a little pot from time to time. A bad informant and bad police procedures then converge, resulting in police breaking down his door while he's sleeping. He fires a gun to defend himself, unwittingly kills a cop, and now faces murder charges.
Here's hoping Frederick escapes Cory Maye's fate. This guy shouldn't be in jail. He should be compensated by the City of Chesapeake. As should the family of Detective Shivers. And these raids need to stop.
You wonder how large the pile of bodies will need to grow before the cops stop breaking down doors and invading homes to enforce consensual crimes.
Prior posts on this case here.
nonesuch | January 31, 2008, 11:08am | #
Dave W. "remember Rigoberto Alpiza..." vaguely.. I think. Much as I admire Radley's reporting on this subject (while disliking his take on the Duke three), he isn't going to Rambo the war on the war on drugs. It's too big for one man ;).
But yeah, once the cops shoot you you are less likely to tell your side of the story well- and the boot-lickers aren't going to do it for you. I'm reminded of an old joke (one appropriated by Terry Pratchett) about the nature of the Universe... the punchline is "You're very clever, young man, but it's turtles all the way down." Well, it's boot-lickers all the way down, and don't forget it.
Dave W.: "I fear that police departments will end up putting a higher priority on killing people"
I had the same thought about police priorities. Dead men tell no tales. In one post an officer was quoted saying they wouldn't have done anything differently. I was skeptical. I think that, knowing what they know now, they would have chosen to shoot first ;). One less dead cop, one more dead perp, that's a win, statistically.
Epeisiarch: well, maybe the publicity will help Frederick, but the main difference between black guys who justifiably shoot cops and white guys who do so is what they wind up pleading to. The normal course for this case would be to point out to Frederick that he's facing a capital case and suggest that he might be better off taking the 25. With good behavior he could be out in 12.
That 12 is a chimera. Having killed a cop is not the crime you want to come before a parole board with, and being white might even make it worse. The board will have some liberals and some conservatives. Both will understand that it is natural for a black man to shoot up some po-pos.
The conservatives will want to punish the black man further for that, while the liberals will find it cruel to punish a man too much for his natural inclinations. Neither side will question whether or not it might have been reasonable to shoot that particular police. But Frederick is white- he has no excuse. Killing cops is aberrant behavior for a white man, and that means that even the liberals on the board will want to hang onto him.
If I were Frederick, I think I'd want to go to jury trial, but it's easy to say that when you aren't facing a death sentence.
kanabiis | January 31, 2008, 2:01pm | #
Living in Colorado, my home is my castle is not only a slogan, but also written into law, as it is in Texas I understand as well, probably other states, but I don't know.
Anyway, I can't help but wonder, why you don't hear about this kind of things in CO. I can't speak for TX, as I don't live there, so anything would have to be national news for me to hear of it.
Anyway, in my town, there have been a rash of 2 AM forced burglaries involving busting down of a door and multiple suspects entering the residence armed. As a result, we keep one of our handguns out of the gun safe and next to our bed. If I were startled awake by armed strangers, I am quite certain I would open fire, shoot first ask questions later, my wife and kids safety depend on it.
I am also sure that even if they strangers were shouting POLICE POLICE, in my heightened state at the moment, with adrenaline pumping and still half awake, I wouldn't even recognize the word, and there would certainly be dead people in my house, probably including me.
Maybe thats why we don't have many no knock raids here in Colorado, the cops know that people shoot to kill when someones breaking in at night.
Maybe more states should adopt the castle doctrine.
