JACKSON – A Hinds County jury on Monday found former Capitol Police officer Steven Frederick Jr. not guilty of manslaughter in the 2022 shooting death of Jaylen Lewis. Jurors could not reach a verdict for his co-defendant, former officer Michael Lamar Rhinewalt, and a few hours later Attorney General Lynn Fitch said her office will not retry him.
The jury deliberated less than five hours in Hinds County Circuit Judge Faye Peterson’s courtroom.
“Our job is to defend the rule of law, even when it is hard. Every case is thoroughly examined without fear or favor,” Fitch said in a statement. “We have concluded our review of 86 officer-involved shootings since the Legislature gave the AGO this responsibility, and we have found the use of force by the officer justified without any further action in all but four. In this case, we followed the process, leading to today’s jury verdict of not guilty for one officer and a hung jury for another. In the case of a tie, the benefit of the doubt goes to our law enforcement officers and we will not seek to retry this case. The men and women who wear the uniform have earned that.”
Lewis, 25, of Jackson, was killed Sept. 25, 2022, after officers with the Capitol Police Flex Unit stopped his white Jeep Grand Cherokee at West and Mayes streets. The officers were working a narcotics operation in unmarked cars and wore vests marked “Police.” Lewis’ Jeep matched the description of a vehicle suspected in burglaries in the Capitol Complex Improvement District, and officers testified he ran red lights before they stopped him.
Officers boxed the Jeep in with their vehicles. Lewis reversed into the police car behind him, then drove forward. Frederick and Rhinewalt, standing in front of the Jeep, both fired. Lewis died of a single gunshot wound to the head. Testimony showed the fatal round could not be excluded from Rhinewalt’s weapon, and Gilbert pointed to testimony that Lewis was hit straight on, meaning Rhinewalt was in front of the vehicle.
Frederick’s round did not strike Lewis.
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Investigators found two handguns and an AR-style rifle in the Jeep. None had been fired.
The officers were charged under an imperfect self-defense theory of manslaughter. The state did not dispute that both men believed deadly force was necessary. It argued that belief was not reasonable under the circumstances.
In closing arguments, Assistant Attorney General Luke Williamson told jurors the officers created the danger by approaching the Jeep in unmarked cars and plainclothes, at night, in a dark location, over a red light.
“We are not arguing to you, or even suggesting to you, that law enforcement should not use unmarked vehicles,” Williamson said. “We are here on this case, these facts, these circumstances. No more. Nothing else.”
He pointed to testimony from Lewis’ passenger, Selena Hayes. She said she saw no blue lights, did not know the men were police until after the shooting, and that Lewis was trying to get around them, not run them over.
“An unreasonable belief, as defined by these jury instructions, comes out in unreasonable actions,” Williamson said.
Frederick’s attorney, Merrida Coxwell, pointed to video from the scene showing blue lights on the officers’ cars.
“If you can’t see those police cars, you need to get your glasses fixed,” Coxwell told jurors.
He argued Frederick could not have acted in concert with Rhinewalt because neither man intended to commit a crime.
Rhinewalt’s attorney, Scott Gilbert, said both officers did exactly what they were trained to do.
“The state of Mississippi wants you to send him to prison for doing what they taught him to do, the way they taught him to do it,” Gilbert said.
Gilbert also attacked the structure of the charge itself. Under the instructions, he said, if jurors believed the officers were not truly in fear for their lives, they would have to acquit.
“How obscene is that?” he said.
Rhinewalt was also indicted in a separate 2022 shooting that happened a month before Lewis’ death.
