Opinion ID: 2382108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Frederick's first trial.

Text: Frederick's first trial, with Judge Shellie F. Bowers presiding, began on February 26, 1992, more than two and one half years after Frederick's arrest. The principal witnesses against Frederick were Michael Smith, Sam Perkins, and Smith's girlfriend, Katrina Terrell. Smith, who had entered into a cooperation agreement with the government to testify truthfully in exchange for a recommendation that his sentence be reduced by half, told the jury that Frederick was determined to kill Hart because Hart had beaten up and taken $1,000 worth of drugs from Perkins, a fourteen-year-old boy who allegedly worked for Frederick's drug selling operation. According to Smith, someone had told Frederick on the night of the murder that Hart could be found near University Place in northwest Washington. Frederick stated that he intended to kill Hart, and he told Smith to drive to University Place and to stop in an adjoining alley. When he spotted Hart, Frederick, who was armed with a pistol, left the car in pursuit of his intended victim. Smith testified that he then heard three shots. Although, according to Smith, Frederick was out of Smith's view by the time the shots were fired, the import of Smith's testimony was that Frederick must have killed Lonnie Hart. [5] Katrina Terrell told the jury that after Smith had been arrested, Frederick paid her a visit. According to Ms. Terrell, Frederick reassured her that she had nothing to worry about. Frederick informed Ms. Terrell that he (Frederick), and not Michael Smith, had shot Lonnie Hart. Frederick further told Ms. Terrell, according to her account, that he had subsequently disposed of the pistol with which the decedent was shot, and that the police therefore would not be able to find the murder weapon. Frederick did not testify at his first trial. His defense counsel sought leave in mid-trial to introduce the testimony that Eric Winters had given at Smith's trial. Counsel contended that he had made diligent efforts, through his investigator, to locate Winters, and that Winters could not be found. The prosecutor opposed the defense request, arguing that the government had had no occasion or opportunity to cross-examine Winters when he testified at Smith's trial and exculpated Frederick. [6] The prosecutor also contended that defense counsel had not made diligent efforts to secure Winters' presence in court. There was extensive discussion between court and counsel during the trial regarding the defense claim that Winters was unavailable to testify. Judge Bowers was extremely critical of defense counsel's lack of diligence in that regard, beginning with counsel's failure to attend or monitor Michael Smith's trial. The judge noted that Winters had been involved in the juvenile justice system and had later become a criminal defendant as an adult, that defense counsel had failed to keep abreast of the status of Winters' cases, and that counsel had made virtually no effort before the eve of trial to locate Winters, even though Winters was a key defense witness, and even though Frederick was charged with first-degree murder. [7] The judge ruled that the defense had failed to demonstrate Winters' unavailability, and he therefore declined to permit the introduction of Winters' prior testimony. Judge Bowers did recess the trial until the next day to enable counsel to make a further attempt to produce Winters, and the judge also instructed Winters' juvenile aftercare worker to attempt to locate him. When Winters had not been found by the following day, however, the trial continued, the attorneys presented their closing arguments, and the judge instructed the jury. After jury deliberations had commenced, Winters' aftercare worker contacted the judge and advised him that Winters had been located. The judge's initial reaction was that this development had come too late. Recognizing the potential importance of Winters' testimony, however, Judge Bowers called in the attorneys. Following a discussion between court and counsel regarding how the case should proceed, the judge invited the defense to make a motion for a mistrial. [8] Frederick's attorney orally requested a mistrial and, over the prosecutor's emphatic opposition, [9] the judge granted the motion. [10]