TheAgitator.com
Day Seven of the Ryan Frederick Trial: Parade of Snitches
Wednesday, January 28th, 2009Informant and jailhouse snitch testimony dominated yesterday’s proceedings at the Ryan Frederick trial. Frederick is the 28-year-old Chesapeake, Virginia man facing murder charges for killing a police officer during a drug raid (see this wiki for more on Frederick’s case). My prior coverage of his trial here. Virginian-Pilot coverage of yesterday’s events here. Coverage from the local libertarian blog Tidewater Liberty here.
The star for most of yesterday was Steven Wright, the informant who tipped police off to Frederick, and who illegally broke into Frederick’s home three nights before before the raid to obtain probable cause.
A few observations, before I excerpt from the Virginian-Pilot’s coverage of his testimony:
• The Virginian-Pilot article doesn’t mention it, but Wright was arrested a few days prior to the raid on charges of credit card theft and fraud. Those charges were dropped shortly after the raid, then reinstated months later, when Wright was arrested again. He was due to stand trial last month. Conveniently, his trial date was moved to tomorrow, two days after his testimony against Frederick.
• Wright’s portrayal of Frederick as a vengeful killer with a gangsta’ vibe runs contrary to everything I’ve heard about Frederick from neighbors, coworkers, and friends and family.
• According to Wright and the police detectives the state has put on the stand, Wright not only illegally broke into Frederick’s home, he lied to police about it for months, possibly compromising not only a drug investigation, but an investigation into the killing of a police officer. Yet he’s never been charged—not for the break-in, nor for lying about it for months.
Here’s the Virginian-Pilot’s account of Wrights testimony:
Ryan Frederick threatened to kill police informant Steven Rene Wright after learning that Wright broke into his garage and stole five marijuana plants, Wright testified at Frederick’s murder trial Tuesday.
“I had a week to turn myself in to him or he was going to go after my family,” Wright said from the witness stand. “He said he was going to… kill me if I didn’t come.”
[...]
Wright said he and a friend, Renaldo Turnbull Jr., broke into Frederick’s garage on Jan. 14, 2008, and stole five of about 10 plants growing in a sophisticated hydroponic tent. They then went to another friend’s house where they made a cell phone video of the plants.
The plants were never turned over to police, he said, but Frederick learned Wright took them and called with the threats.
Wright said he met Frederick earlier in 2007 while dating the sister of Frederick’s fiancee.
In the six to eight months prior to the raid, Wright said, he’d been to Frederick’s house at 932 Redstart Ave. 30 to 50 times; he saw the marijuana growing operation at almost every visit; and he smoked the drug with Frederick and others. He said Frederick even explained to him how the hydroponic system produced superior cannabis.
Wright said he became a police informant after seeking help from a drug dealer in an unrelated case who threatened him. He said police paid him $60 for information that led to the arrest of that dealer.
Despite being limited by the judge to testifying about one or two marijuana sales between November 2007 and the night of the raid, Wright blurted out that he bought marijuana from Frederick some 20 to 30 times throughout 2007.
Wright insists he was never asked by Chesapeake police to break into Frederick’s home. Rather, he said he did so voluntarily as part of a scheme he planned with several friends. They’d steal half the plants, then leave the other half for the police to find after Wright tipped them off. The problem for the prosecution, here, is that in order to believe Wright’s testimony, they’ll also have to accept his own testimony that he’s a habitual liar who routinely spins out falsehoods when it’s in his interest.
The state then called Jamal Skeeter, a jailhouse snitch with a long felony record. From the Tidewater Liberty blog:
Mr. Skeeter said that he had been in the Chesapeake jail for a period of about 10 days in June of 2008. He had been brought here from the Correctional facility at Lawrenceville, where he was serving a 14 year sentence. He was here to testify as a witness in another case.
He wore red coveralls, indicating that he is in solitary confinement. (Mr. Frederick has been in solitary confinement throughout his entire stay at the jail). He said that in June he was in the gym (on his one hour daily “break”) when “someone” pointed Mr. Frederick out (thru a glass door) as “the guy who shot a policeman.” Mr. Skeeter somehow arranged to speak to Mr. Frederick (through a glass door) and that Mr. Frederick immediately “broke out in a story” saying that he knew he was shooting a cop, but that he was trying to get off on self-defense.
[...]
He said Mr. Frederick told him that he was high when the police got to his house, and that he had hollow points in his gun. When asked about Mr. Frederick’s demeanor, Mr. Skeeter said he “was trying to be a gangsta” and didn’t seem sorry for what he had done.
[...]
Mr. Skeeter claimed that he has made no deal with anyone, and that he’s doing this (testifying against Mr. Frederick) for Det Shivers family because “it ain’t right.”
To sum, the career felon Mr. Skeeter took interest in Frederick after “someone” told him Frederick shot a cop. In their first conversation, through a glass door, during an hour-long break in the jail’s gym, Frederick apparently confessed everything to Mr. Skeeter. Skeeter, the felon, then contacted prosecutors, not to get time off his own sentence, but because of the overwhelming sense of empathy he felt for the dead cop’s family, and because Frederick’s confession violated his own personal sense of right and wrong.
Sure. Sounds plausible.
The state then called jailhouse informant Lamont Malone, who is serving time for seven different felonies. Malone has already testified once against someone else, resulting in a reduction in his sentence from life to about 19 years.
Again from Tidewater Liberty:
He said he is currently in the Chesapeake jail (he has also been in Suffolk and Portsmouth), and has “gotten to know” Mr. Frederick. He said Mr. Frederick’s jailhouse nickname is “Calvin.” He said that Mr. Frederick calls his gun “Roscoe” and that Mr. Frederick shot the police after they kicked in his door because he “panicked” and “had to get rid of his product.” He said that Mr. Frederick told him that he grew “Hydro” and that he had to get rid of his plants. He didn’t say how he did this.
He said that Mr. Frederick told him that he wanted to keep his case in Chesapeake because of the support, and that he expects that his lawyer is going to get him off.. He said that Mr. Frederick has expressed no remorse.
[...]
He said that Mr. Frederick makes unkind comments about Mrs. Shivers, and that he doesn’t seem sorry for what he did. He said that Mr. Frederick has been “laughing it up” with another prisoner, who is facing similar charges.
Laying it on thick, aren’t they?
When weighing yesterday’s testimony against Frederick’s story, it’s probably useful to remember that Frederick had no prior criminal record, and had a full-time job that required him to get up early in the morning (with kind words from his employers). Friends and neighbors described him to me last year as a shy, introverted guy who smoked pot recreationally.
It’ll be interesting to see if Renaldo Turnbull gets called to testify, and what his testimony might look like if he does.
“The star for most of yesterday was Steven Wright …”
Please forgive me.
“All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my hand.”
“The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.”
“I almost had a psychic girlfriend but she left me before we met.”
Those are just the first three quotes from this site:
http://www.weather.net/zarg/ZarPages/stevenWright.html
And now back to our regularly scheduled program …
Well i can solve half this problem by putting on the hipwaders, but what to do about the smell?
They didn’t find any pot plants, is that right? So he panicked over getting arrested for growing marijauna, so he shot a cop, then somewhere between giving up and getting arrested he managed to get rid of all of his pot plants? Am I missing some facts here?
If there is a Hell, there is a special place there for these scumbag prosecutors.
Why is it that when I read about this I keep hearing Vicky Lawrence’s one hit?
I have always wanted to move back to Chesapeake (having not wanting to leave my wonderful place in Great Bridge in the first place). I am glad I left now. For shame.
I hope nobody is actually thinking that there will be justice in this case. Frederick is going to get convicted. He’ll sit on death row for years. His life is over. The police win again.
Unfortunately, all the protestations will be for nothing. My advice: take to the catacombs like the Christians of old, when they lived in an oppressive state. You should act, think, and live like you are a second away from being thrown to the lions. Because you are.
“It’ll be interesting to see if Renaldo Turnbull gets called to testify, and what his testimony might look like if he does.”
The prosecution rested its case today as well.
Update: Commonwealth rests in Frederick case
http://www.wvec.com/news/topstories/stories/wvec_local_012809_jury_visits_frederick_home.1091fb9e.html
What is the defense attorney doing on cross? Is he ripping these guys to shreds? Can someone tell us please?
Does ANY court actually still believe the testi-lying of Jailhouse snitches?
Read John Grishams’ first non-fiction book: An Innocent Man.
Two innocent men were sentenced largely on the bogus testimony of jailhouse snitches.
One was sentenced to Life in Prison, and one got Death Row.
Both were exonerated by DNA testing after 12 years in prison.
What does a Jailhouse Snitch testimony really mean?
The Prosecutor lacks real evidence.
Is there any validity to the “hollow points” claim? I don’t remember seeing anything about that before.
The more I read about this case, the more neutered I feel. Mr. Frederick needs support now more than ever, based upon the shitmountain of lies being presented by the government.
Hope he knows that there is a segment of the world out here who believes he is being railroaded.
I’m with IrishMike. I would like to hear about how the defense has handled crossing the witnesses more. Granted, I love hearing about defense attorneys because I am one (so you can talk about me, too), but a lot of reports don’t seem to mention cross that clearly.
Any word on how the defense is cross-examining these witnesses?? Pointing out the obvious benefit to felons for testimony, pointing out the lies from Mr. Wright?
Susan, that’s probably because the reporters don’t care too much about the cross.
We need more defense attourneys passionate about individual rights. I am leaning strongly towards picking up a LSAT prep book soon.
For those too young and going WTF at #5:
That’s the night that the lights went out in Georgia
That’s the night that they hung an innocent man
You don’t trust your soul to no backwoods Southern Lawyer
‘Cause the judge in this town has got bloodstains on his hands.
Thanks #15 Frank…
I know the song but didn’t get it until you pointed it out. I was in the frame of mind that Vicky Lawrence’s one hit was on a joint.
#14 Omar – I vote you go for it re: LSAT and law school for defense attorneying. I have heard of defense attorneys that follow all the rules just so the defendant, when convicted, can’t get out on a technicality (leading me to suspect that the defense given is less than stellar but technically correct).
So Frederick called Wright and told him to “turn himself in” to him. What was Frederick going to do with him? make a citizen’s arrest? or, more likely, take his pot plants back? Why would he do that when he was at the same time getting rid of the ones he still had?
And do “gangstas” really say “turn yourself in to me”? That sounds more like something a cop would say, doesn’t it?
Calvin and Roscoe? I loved that comic strip when I was younger.
Calvin and his toy gun Roscoe would get up to all sorts of hijinks like growing pot and shooting cops and managing to dispose of a shed full of plants via the transmogrifier that turned them into Japanese Maples, and holding long, detailed, incriminating conversations about his alleged actions with people he just met…in jail.
Ahhh….nostalgia.
Let me get this straight:
The cops have no hard evidence whatsoever that a ‘Grow Operation’ of ANY size was actually taking place in the garage… in January… when it’s cold… No unnatural power usage, no heating gear, nothing, just some stored stuff.
In addition, they made no controlled buys, found only trace amounts of pot, and never observed a single sale of drugs.
The cops were unable to coerce a confession out of Ryan, (And you KNOW damn well they tried…)
so…
They paid 3 CRIMINALS (2 of which were currently in the slammer) to perjure themselves (”Sure I’ll lie on the stand for a reduced sentence! What are they gunna do? Throw me in jail some more?”) And got what is at best hearsay gossip?
And that’s their case?
Fuck! Why even pretend that they’re investigating at all? Why not just randomly break into houses with Search Warrants that say “Any illigul shit”?
how do you fight unethical prosecutors with unlimited resources?
tarring and feathering? jim bell? visible protests?
this is true evil. if ministers want to fight evil, they should be pointing out the devil to their flocks. how many martyrs do we need?
I can’t wait to see the transcripts from the defense side…
Or a gangsta well coached by a group of cops trying to cover their own asses…
http://www.reason.com/news/show/125449.html
Guilty Before Proven Innocent
How police harassment, jailhouse snitches, and a runaway war on drugs imprisoned an innocent family
[clip] …
The Shady World of Informants
The use of dubious informants is standard practice in drug policing. Narcotics officers routinely recruit drug addicts, rival dealers, and arrestees already facing their own drug charges to make controlled buys from suspected drug dealers or to point out places where drugs might be found. The system is fraught with problems, including a lack of oversight, little accountability, and twisted incentives that encourage shortcuts and corruption.
But even within the already tawdry informant system, jailhouse informants occupy a particularly pernicious niche. Mandatory minimum sentences contribute to the corruption of jailhouse informant testimony. Under federal law, the only way someone serving a mandatory minimum prison sentence can get out early is to provide information or testimony that is of “substantial assistance” to prosecutors. What constitutes “substantial assistance” is solely up to the judgment of prosecutors. Make the prosecutor happy, and you go home early. Tell him something that may well be true but doesn’t quite go far enough to win him an indictment or conviction, and you risk giving up a golden opportunity to cut your time. Critics say it’s a system that suborns outright lying.
…
[clip]
#10 – Hollowpoints are the typical choice for self defense in handguns, especially those of lower caliber, to maximize damage in a relatively low energy projectile, as well as preventing damage to objects and people behind the target once the bullet travels through. So, it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if he was loaded up with some, in fact, I would have expected nothing else. He used a .380, which is a shortened 9mm. It needs all the punch it can get, as .380 is considered too small a caliber for self defense by some.
I sat in the trial for several days. Brocceletti is very good. When cross examining the police officers/detectives, he effectively highlighted inconsistencies in their accounts (different people heard different shouts from different people, none of the 2nd team members at the back of the house heard the call “eight-ball” out loud or on the radio). Also, after the prosecutor guided the lead detective painstakingly through the sequence of events, on cross Brocceletti pointed out that the knock and announce testimony given to the jury was significantly longer and more repetitious than explained during the preliminary hearing testimony…he got the detective to read a transcript of his previous testimony that he knocked and announced himself three times versus the 5 or 6 times he testified in front of the jury. The prosecution objected on the grounds that the question had been answered and the prosecution was not obligated to provide full testimony/evidence during prelim hearings. The judge overruled the objection when Brocceletti pointed out that the police had a year to get their story straight and he needed to understand why there was such a discrepency…all cross examinations he did were thorough. Several times the prosecutors’ ridiculous objections and explanations to the judge resulted in confused looks from judge, jurors and people in the gallery alike. I am confident Brocceletti has a lot planned for the defense.
Marty, I asked that question of a self-described former prosecutor a few posts ago. Didn’t get an answer, got a lot of information about everything else. Ultimately, the way to fight such isn’t in a court room. Most people don’t have the resources that the Duke Lacrosse boys had, and, anyway, I shouldn’t *have* to spend my own money to fight a corrupt prosecution.
At least with Frederick there’s a dead body involved. In the Duke case, the entire thing was invented by some twisted mind.
Most jurors are to stupid to be jurors. They’ll pobably eat this stuff up and convict.
Just from what I have read here, if I was on the jury, my mind would have already been made to declare him not guilty.
This man is being railroaded … by convicts!
This:
http://tidewaterliberty.wordpress.com/2009/01/28/call-for-disbarment/
Would be great if true.
Clarence Darrow used to feel that the closing arguments were a key if not the key part of the case. He worked like a demon to get his the way that he wanted them.
This, to me, feels like a case where there are so many holes in the prosecution case that the defence will have to do a skilful job of ensuring that they all hit effectively and together on the jury in a way that they can absorb to the defence’s favour.
I would guess, and hope, that the police were carrying guns with hollow points too. Most alternatives are downright irresponsible.
//tarring and feathering?//
Too bad nobody seems to remember how to do that. It’s just about the only thing the totalitarian anarchists in government would be likely to understand.
If I were Brocoletti, I’d be begging for a plea at this point. They are floundering and the prosecution has proven it’s case beyond a reasonable doubt. We’ll see what the jury thinks.
I wonder if the defense has left an opening to appeal the prosecutor’s refusal to let jurors in the house? Is there any logical reason why the jurors should have gone to the building but not inside?
Floundering? After yesterday? Their case yesterday was based on the word of two career felons and a petty thief and burglar who admitted he’s been lying to the police for the better part of a year. All of them had nothing to lose by lying, and a whole hell of a lot to gain.
The state rested based on that, the irrelevant testimony of Shivers’ widow, and the testimony of a bunch of cops who couldn’t get their story straight. Oh, and one other cop they tried to keep off the stand who came back from Georgia to prove the prosecution out and out lied in its opening statement.
It’s telling that Ebert didn’t want the jury to go inside the house (or, for that matter, to even visit it). I’m sure Broccoletti would have jumped at the chance to put them in the bedroom, and have a cop or two pound on the front door and announce. Try it sometime, LC. I have. It’s damned near impossible to make out what the knocker is saying.
If Ebert got the kneejerk jury he wanted (dope + dead cop = murder), then yeah, he’ll be fine.
But he sure as hell didn’t prove his case beyond a reasonable doubt.
Mr. Balko,
Don’t waste your breath. Lima Charlie is a LE troll from the tidwater liberty forum.
Ktc2 (my bitch)
A knuckle-dragging troll at that!
Mr. Balko – You really need to be there to hear and see the evidence. There will be a conviction here. We’ll see what the jury says. Defense should rest Thursday. Hopefully, the jury will have it by Friday a.m. with a verdict by p.m. so you guys can cry in your beer all weekend.
Supercat:
The judge made the decision about not letting the jury see inside the house due to the changes. That was the reason they went in advance of the jury.
Michael-
Hopefully, more people keep reporting and asking questions and someone will figure out how to make a difference. I don’t see how there can be any response but violence. How does a guy like RF get his life back on track? Civil lawsuits can take years. I’d be amazed if he has any personal assets left. He’ll always have a black mark on his name.
The Duke case must be seen as a fluke, because nobody’s talking about it and nothing’s changed. I can’t imagine where those boys would be if they had to rely on public defenders.
We need a MLK type leader who can galvanize people to start marching…
Marty @ #20:
“tarring and feathering?”
Works for me.
I don’t imagine it would have to be done too many times before the bastards begin to get the hint.
(While I say that more-or-less tongue-in-cheek now, if events continue on their present course, I can easily envision a time when that may not be the case.)
From the wvec.com report:
This rejection could be the best thing for the defense. The jury might be inclined to convict for second degree murder, but capital murder, with the risk of the death penalty or life without parole, is a whole ‘nuther ballgame.
Even the marijuana manufacturing charge, if it stood alone without the death of a cop in the picture, is specious at best. I think the desperate ploy of jailhouse snitches –obviously liars, to a man– would be likely to win an acquital. The downside is that Brocoletti stipulated RF had grown his own marijuana in the past: this is “manufacturing”.
I predict: acquittal on capital murder, conviction on manufacturing marijuana.
I should add: And this makes me sad. Growing a plant, one that was endemic to all of North America before eradication efforts, should never be a felony.
Lima Charlie,
Why are you blinding yourself to any wrongdoing by the police? Most of the posters here can see the recklessness and irresponsibility of their tactics. People here have explained more than once why breaking down doors is in general a bad idea and no one has come up with a good reason for the police to break down Ryan’s door with little attempt to give him a chance to comply.
You have not come up with any justifications for their actions.
Why the unquestioning support? Do you want to feel that you are protected by them? Do you want the vicarious thrill of punishing those you see as wrongdoers? Do you want to see them as heroes?
In your unwillingness to put any blame on them you end up trying to see those victimized by them as evil? But the desire to see others as evil is itself evil.
You say they have good intentions. So did the communists. Their desire to do good was the source of their evil. They were evil because their desire to do good became an obsession. The War on Drugs is an evil driven by the desire to fight a perceived evil. And because one usually has to use violence to combat violence, fighting another’s evil is always morally dangerous to those doing the fighting. Fighting evil is never good. It is merely necessary. And when you become obsessed with fighting another’s evil then you run a very high risk of doing evil yourself.
Besides obsessive idealism another source of evil is egotism, the actions of those whose opinions of themselves do mesh with reality. A lot of police seem to want to see themselves as heroes. But to do this they start seeing others as worse than they are. They need villains. They become parasites on the perceived evil of others. You see to be buying into this dangerous heroic self image.
For goodness’ sake learn a sense of proportion and ditch your self righteousness.
Burrow Owl=
tarring and feathering scrared the hell out of tax collectors and bad politicians so bad 220 years ago, that it’s still talked about. Surely, there’s a modern equivalent. We have so many tech geeks who are politically sharp, maybe the answer is ‘identity rebuilding’ on the computer.
The prosecutor/bad politician goes to use his credit card at the gap- ‘I’m sorry, Mr. Corrupt Penis, your card’s at it’s limit…’ Don’t steal his stuff- fuck it up to where even he doesn’t want to be him.
A digital scarlet letter, if you will.
Or… we develop our own network of snitches and start setting them up, using their own thugs against them. Hell, these dumbass kids broke into his garage and snitched for $60. I’d give ‘em $60 to plant some anhydrous and a shitload of cold medicine in someone’s basement. A couple of tips later, the word is there’s some new meth dealers.
Look what a bullshit set up did to Mayor Calvo…
This just in…
This morning, Mr. Broccoletti told the court that (last evening) he was contacted by three attorneys from Portsmouth (next city over) and informed that Jamal Skeeter (jailhouse snitch No. 1) is a “professional witness” and should be considered a “not credible witness.” (Gee, who woulda thunk it?). At least one of these attorneys is a Commonwealth Attorney, and one works in the Public Defenders Office.
Mr. Broccoletti stated that he needed some time to make whatever arrangements necessary to bring these attorneys in to testify (or secure their evidence in some other way).
Court recessed until 2:00 p.m.
Yesterday, six of Ryan’s neighbors, including one on her porch, testified that they didn’t hear any announcements from the police.
Marty, while the identity theft idea is a great idea for scum politicians, I have to agree with Burrow Owl. Bring back tar and feathering. Its much more one on one with the person and I have to think would leave a bigger physical reminder as the tar and feathered watched their skin grow back. And as a bonus it has that old time traditional feel to it. >^-^<
John,
That’s GREAT news. Of course most of us with a functioning brain cell or two left knew full well they were all paid liars but it’ll be great to get some credible witnesses in who can testify to exactly that fact. This will further destroy the prosecutors already ridiculously hollow case.
Hannah-
I love the idea of tarring and feathering, it just seems like we could update it to the 21st century. Jim Bell’s assassination system is an amazing example of how to bring govt officials in line by using technology to fight them.
I’m not particularly computer savvy and my neighbor raises chickens and turkeys… let’s get all medieval on their asses!
John,
So if these scumbag prosecutors knew (and of course they did but perhaps it can now be proven) that their witnesses were “professional witnesses” and “not credible” can we add that to the disbarment petition/complaint? Surely thats yet another violation.
“The Latest: Frederick trial takes break to investigate witness credibility”
http://www.wvec.com/news/chesapeake/stories/wvec_local_012909_frederick_witness_questions.1571b69e.html
Good news.
A digital scarlet letter, if you will.
If there were some means of ensuring that innocent people didn’t get smeared, a ’shun list’ might make things interesting. Subscribers to the list would be informed that they should not engage in unlawful harassment, but would be encouraged to engage in as many social slights as possible against certain people while remaining within the law. I would think people could make life pretty miserable for anyone whose actions were outrageous enough to justify placement on the list.