Opinion ID: 2382108
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Frederick's second trial.

Text: Frederick's second trial began on March 3, 1993, the fourth anniversary of Lonnie Hart's death, and more than a year after the beginning of Frederick's first trial. The prosecution again relied primarily on the testimony of Michael Smith, Katrina Terrell, and Sam Perkins. The government's basic theory of the case remained unchanged. At the second trial, as at the first, defense counsel was unable to produce Eric Winters as a witness. In a remarkable reprise of the proceedings before Judge Bowers a year earlier, counsel asked the court, five days into the trial, to admit the testimony that Winters had given at Michael Smith's trial almost three years earlier. The prosecutor objected, insisting, as he had before Judge Bowers, that Winters had been lying when he exculpated Frederick, and that in any event, the government had the right to cross-examine Winters and would be deprived of that right if Winters' prior testimony were admitted. The prosecutor also challenged the sufficiency of defense counsel's attempts to subpoena Eric Winters for the second trial: If diligent efforts had been used that witness could have been found. As a matter of fact, members of the Metropolitan Police Department ran into him over the weekend when they were looking for Mr. [Sam Perkins].... Apparently this witness wasn't trying to avoid the police when they were out looking for [Sam Perkins].... This young man is not unavailable. As I indicated to the court today, when the police were out looking for [Sam Perkins] they happened to run into this particular individual that night, and spoke with him briefly. He didn't run from the police. We submit to the court he cannot be declared unavailable. In Yogi Berra's immortal phrase, it was like déjà vu all over again. Judge López expressed reservations as to whether Winters was really unavailable, [11] but he made no specific finding regarding the adequacy of counsel's efforts to locate Winters. The judge ruled, instead, that Winters' prior testimony should not be admitted because, when Winters gave evidence at Smith's trial, the government had not had the opportunity to cross-examine him with respect to Frederick's role or lack thereof in the murder of Lonnie Hart. With his exculpatory witness once again unavailable, Frederick elected on this occasion to testify in his own defense. Frederick denied any knowledge of the crime and professed to be generally unfamiliar with most of the actors in the drama. Frederick claimed that he had never seen Hart, the man he was accused of shooting. Frederick stated that he was aware that Smith was a clerk in a store in his neighborhood, but he denied knowing Smith personally. Frederick asserted that he had never spoken to Ms. Terrell directly, and that although he had seen Sam Perkins hanging around with Smith, he was not otherwise acquainted with Perkins. Frederick acknowledged during his testimony that he had been convicted of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute it and also of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute that substance. Frederick also gave somewhat contradictory and arguably unpersuasive testimony regarding his employment and other matters. The jury convicted Frederick of both counts of the indictment. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment of twenty years to life for FDMWA and one year for CPWOL. He filed a timely notice of appeal. [12]