Chesapeake Update

Ryan Frederick, the man charged with killing Chesapeake, VA police officer Jarrod Shivers, was denied bond yesterday. Shivers was killed while trying to break through Frederick's front door along with 14 other officers after an informant (who was almost certainly the burglar who had broken into Frederick's house several days before) told them that Frederick was growing marijuana in his garage. Frederick, who was growing Japanese maples in his garage, claims he feared for his life and shot at Shivers without realizing he was an officer. As Radley Balko notes, the official police story seems to be evolving some more, possibly to bring a death penalty charge against Frederick.

The prosecutor, Paul Ebert, was brought in from Northern Virginia as a special prosecutor, and a retired judge has been appointed to preside over the case.

The judge denied bond saying the case is tragic from many points of view, but "no bond" is appropriate.

Ebert said, "This man is potentially a danger to society."

Frederick sat in court, appearing very scared and emotional, shaking and wiping away tears using tissues a deputy handed him.

Ebert says the evidence will show Detective Jarrod Shivers and 13 other officers went to Frederick's house to serve a drug search warrant on January 17th. He said "an innocent police officer, who was standing, really in the yard, armed with a search warrant and he's shot down for absolutely no reason."

Frederick has maintained, since the beginning, he did not know it was police busting through his front door. He says his house had been burglarized a few days earlier and he thought the same people were coming back to kill him.

He admits he had a small amount of marijuana in his house, but says "it was nothing to kill a police officer over."

People who know Frederick have been very active in his defense (Frederick had no criminal record at all before this incident), including putting up a sign of support in his yard and planning a rally tomorrow at the Chesapeake Correctional Center where he's currently being held.