Another appeal denied for convicted cop-killer Ryan Frederick

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Last week, a Virginia Appeals court panel denied another appeal for Ryan Frederick, who was convicted of the 2008 shooting death of a Chesapeake SWAT officer.

His attorney, Eric Korslund, maintains that the jury in Frederick’s murder trial should not have been given the option to convict on voluntary manslaughter. He plans next, to appeal the decision to the Virginia Supreme Court.

On the night of January 17, 2008, a police SWAT team surrounded Ryan Frederick´s home in Chesapeake, Va. The police were there to serve a drug warrant based on a tip from a criminal informant.

As was typical, 28 year-old Ryan Frederick had gone to sleep early in order to leave the house before dawn for his job with a soda distributor. He awoke to a commotion of screams and the distinct sound of someone breaking down his front door.

Frederick´s house had been broken into a few days earlier, being a slight man of only a little over 100 pounds, Frederick feared for his safety. After the break-in, he purchased a gun.

Frightened, Frederick grabbed his gun and when he got to the front of his house, he saw a man trying to crawl through the bottom portion of his door. Terrified that the intruders had returned, he fired.

The man he shot was not an aggressive burglar, nor a drug-crazed murderer, he was Det. Jarrod Shivers. The police detective and military veteran died almost immediately. Frederick was charged with first-degree murder and now sits in a jail cell awaiting trial.

As for the marijuana-growing operation for which police were looking, nothing was found. Only a very small amount of marijuana was discovered on the Frederick property, only enough to charge him with misdemeanor possession. Frederick has admitted that he uses marijuana occasionally but has never been involved with producing nor selling the drug.

Ryan Frederick has no prior history of violence, nor any criminal history whatsoever. He took care of his grandmother until her death three years ago, had a full-time job, and was engaged. In his spare time, he worked in his yard and tended to his Koi pond…Not behavior usually associated with a drug dealer.

However, based solely on the word of an informant, police obtained a warrant and stormed into his house in the dark of night. The information turned out to be false, a police officer and father of three is dead, and a decent young man´s life is now on hold, and forever changed.

Frederick was eventually convicted of voluntary manslaughter and is now serving a 10-year prison sentence.

In January, a Virginia appellate judge denied Frederick’s appeal to overturn his 2008 conviction.

The case drew national attention, and brought a great deal of criticism over the use of police informants, as well as questioning the use of no-knock warrants.

 

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