Two ex-Capitol Police officers stand trial for manslaughter in Jackson shooting death

Steven Frederick Jr. and Michael Rhinewalt face manslaughter charges over the fatal shooting of Jaylen Lewis, 25, during a traffic stop in Jackson, Mississippi in 2022.

Manslaughter trial opens for two former Capitol Police officers in Jaylen Lewis shooting

The manslaughter trial of two former Mississippi Capitol Police officers began Wednesday in Jackson, with prosecutors and defence attorneys clashing over whether the fatal shooting of 25-year-old Jaylen Lewis on 25 September 2022 was legally justified. newsfromthestates.com reports that Steven Frederick Jr. and Michael Lamar Rhinewalt, both white, were members of the Capitol Police's crime suppression Flex Unit when they shot Lewis, a Black man, during a traffic stop.

Special Assistant Attorney General Luke Williamson addressed the jury in his opening statement: "It was not a justified killing. It was not self-defense. We will ask that you find the defendants guilty of manslaughter." Both officers have pleaded not guilty.

The traffic stop and the shooting

Frederick and Rhinewalt were conducting a narcotics operation when they observed a white Jeep Grand Cherokee, driven by Lewis, run a red light at Stonewall Street in Jackson. The officers activated their police lights, pulled Lewis over and blocked his vehicle from moving forward with their own car.

Lewis reversed his vehicle and bumped into a police cruiser positioned behind him. Frederick and Rhinewalt then opened fire into the Cherokee, striking Lewis in the head and killing him. A female passenger, Selena Hayes, was also in the car at the time.

Defence lawyer Merrida Coxwell Jr. told the jury — comprising nine Black jurors and three white jurors — that the officers had called on Lewis to show his hands before the situation escalated. "Suddenly and without warning, Jaylen Lewis slammed into the back of the police car behind and came right at the officers," Coxwell said, arguing that Rhinewalt fired in self-defence in response to the 707-horsepower engine of the Cherokee moving toward them.

An earlier grand jury indictment concluded that belief was "not a reasonable belief under the circumstances."

A lawsuit filed by Lewis' mother, Arkela Lewis, states that her son "does not brandish a weapon, reach for a weapon, make any violent gestures, threaten anyone, or take any other actions that could be reasonably perceived as endangering officers or others" before the officers fired.

Officers subsequently recovered Glock pistols, an assault weapon and bags of marijuana from Lewis' car. Crime scene analyst Ty Parker of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation testified that none of the weapons inside the vehicle showed any sign of having been fired, though all three guns were loaded. Parker identified two bullet holes in the front windshield and two further holes on the driver's side window.

Testimony from officers and investigators

Lt. Kevin Swinney of Capitol Police, who was present at the scene, testified that he did not see where Frederick and Rhinewalt were standing when they fired. Asked whether the officers had done anything outside accepted police practice, Swinney replied no, adding: "I ain't going to jail for nobody."

Capt. Dennis Weaver of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation testified that passenger Selena Hayes told investigators she yelled "Stop, stop, stop" as Lewis attempted to speed away. Coxwell asked Weaver whether Frederick had been truthful in his account; Weaver confirmed that, to the best of his knowledge, he had been.

Coxwell acknowledged Lewis likely fled because of the drugs and weapons in the car. "That's never a safe thing to do with officers standing in front of you," he said.

Background: a pattern of incidents

The case unfolds against a broader context of controversy surrounding the Capitol Police Flex Unit. In 2022, the Mississippi Legislature expanded the unit's jurisdiction beyond the state Capitol complex to other areas of downtown Jackson. Within that same year, officers shot at least four people.

One month before Lewis was killed, Rhinewalt and former Flex Unit officer Jeffery Walker fired on a vehicle and struck a passenger, Sherita Harris, in the head. Harris survived but now suffers "permanent neurological and facial injuries," according to her lawsuit. A grand jury subsequently indicted Rhinewalt and Walker for aggravated assault in that case; no weapon was recovered from the vehicle.

Frederick, who is the son-in-law of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, was involved in separate incidents following Lewis' death. In March 2023 he crashed a Capitol Police Ford vehicle and recorded a blood-alcohol level of 0.15 — nearly twice the legal limit of 0.08 — on a field sobriety test. The DUI charge was later dismissed when a state trooper failed to appear at the court hearing. Frederick resigned from Capitol Police three days after the crash, according to his certification records, "to prevent termination." He subsequently joined Scott County as a deputy, and roughly 18 months later was involved in a second patrol vehicle crash.

U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson has dismissed the Mississippi Department of Public Safety from the civil lawsuit brought by Arkela Lewis. The case remains pending against the two former officers, who have sought its dismissal.

Mother speaks outside courthouse

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Arkela Lewis said the justifications offered for her son's death made her angry. "Any time an officer kills someone, it's always self-defense," she said. "It's something I have already been prepared for."

She expressed little confidence that the officers would be convicted. "I've been praying and leaving it in God's hands. That's all I can do."

Source: Google News MT — Crime (en)