Ex-Capitol Police officers on trial on manslaughter charge

The trial began Wednesday for two former Capitol Police officers charged with manslaughter in the shooting death of a 25-year-old Jackson man.

Steven Frederick Jr. and Michael Lamar Rhinewalt, who are both white, were part of the crime suppression Flex Unit of the Capitol Police involved in the death of a Black man, Jaylen Lewis, on Sept. 25, 2022.

According to the indictment, the men said one of them shot Lewis because it “was necessary to protect himself from great bodily harm or death at the hands of Lewis,” but the indictment concluded that was “not a reasonable belief under the circumstances.”

Frederick, the son-in-law of Rankin County Sheriff Bryan Bailey, and Rhinewalt have pleaded not guilty to the criminal charge.

At the time of the fatal shooting, Frederick and Rhinewalt were conducting a drug narcotics operation when they saw a white Jeep Grand Cherokee turn north on West Street in Jackson driven by Lewis, who had a female passenger.

After the officers saw the Cherokee run a red light at Stonewall Street, they turned on their police lights and pulled Lewis over and blocked him from going forward with his car.

Lewis wound up reversing his car and bumping into the police cruiser behind his vehicle. 

“Jaylen 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,” according to a lawsuit filed by Lewis’ mother, Arkela.

After this, Frederick and Rhinewalt opened fire into the Cherokee, shooting Lewis in the head and killing him, according to the lawsuit. 

But the former officers have maintained they faced harm from Lewis. “Officers fired into the vehicle to stop Lewis from harming or killing them or others, because Lewis was driving the vehicle toward the officers,” wrote J. Scott Gilbert, a Jackson lawyer representing Rhinewalt.

In his opening statement to the jury, Special Assistant Attorney General Luke Williamson said Lewis’ death was “not a justified killing. It was not self-defense. We will ask that you find the defendants guilty of manslaughter.”

Jackson lawyer Merrida Coxwell Jr. told the jury — made up of nine Black jurors and three white jurors — that officers blocked Lewis in with their car and called on him to show his hands. “Suddenly and without warning, Jaylen Lewis slammed into the back of the police car behind and came right at the officers,” he said.

In response to the 707-horsepower engine Cherokee heading toward them, Coxwell said Rhinewalt shot Lewis in self-defense.

In Lewis’ car, officers found Glock pistols, an assault weapon and bags of marijuana, Coxwell said. “We’re not trying to paint a negative picture, but it’s the truth.”

Lewis decided to run “probably because of the drugs and weapons,” Coxwell said. “That’s never a safe thing to do with officers standing in front of you.”

Lt. Kevin Swinney of Capitol Police testified that he was present when the shooting took place. He said he didn’t see where Frederick and Rhinewalt were standing when they fired their guns.

Asked if the officers had done anything that fell outside police practice, Swinney replied no.

If there had been, Gilbert asked, “you would have reported it, right?”

Swinney responded yes. “I ain’t going to jail for nobody.”

Capt. Dennis Weaver of the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation testified that the passenger in Lewis’ vehicle, Selena Hayes, told agents that she yelled out, “Stop, stop, stop” when Lewis tried to speed off.

“As best you could tell, he (Frederick) was telling the truth?” Coxwell asked.

Weaver replied yes.

Lewis’ mother said hearing all the justifications for killing her son angers her. Any time an officer kills someone, “it’s always self-defense,” she said. “It’s something I have already been prepared for.”

She’s not optimistic the officers will be convicted, she said. “I’ve been praying and leaving it in God’s hands. That’s all I can do.”

In 2022, the state Legislature expanded the jurisdiction of Capitol Police beyond the state Capitol in Jackson. Within that year, officers shot at least four people.

A month before Lewis was killed, Rhinewalt and former Flex Unit officer Jeffery Walker opened fire on a car, striking a passenger in the head. That victim, Sherita Harris, was taken to the hospital where she had surgery to remove bullet fragments from her head. She survived but now has “permanent neurological and facial injuries,” according to her lawsuit.

A grand jury indicted Rhinewalt and Walker for aggravated assault in that case. According to the lawsuit, no weapon was recovered from the car.

Walker also faces federal charges for allegedly violating the civil rights of a handcuffed man by slamming his head into the hood of a car and kicking him in the head and face in July 2022. 

Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to the charge. He is now seeking to withdraw that plea, claiming ineffective assistance of counsel, according to court documents.

On March 12, 2023, Frederick totaled his Capitol Police Ford F-150 on U.S. 49 South in Covington County. He flunked the DUI field test with a .15 score, nearly twice the legal limit of .08. He was handcuffed and arrested. He was released without bond into Bailey’s custody.

Five months later, Frederick dodged conviction when a state trooper failed to appear for the court hearing, and the judge dismissed the DUI charge.

Frederick resigned three days after the wreck “to prevent termination,” according to his certification records. He had worked for Capitol Police less than eight months and paid nothing toward the cost of the Ford F-150 he totaled.

A year and a half after Frederick demolished his Capitol Police truck, he wrecked another patrol vehicle, this time as a deputy for Scott County. Bailey picked up Frederick before the arrival of a state trooper, who interviewed Frederick at the hospital. The Rankin County Sheriff’s Department released a statement that Bailey responded to the accident as a Scott County deputy.

In September 2025, Lewis’ mother filed a federal lawsuit against the Capitol Police officers who shot him to death in 2022, accusing them of “willful, reckless and malicious conduct.” 

The lawsuit also accuses the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, which oversees the Capitol Police, of permitting “officers who have engaged in excessive force or unreasonable violence toward citizens to avoid the consequences of discipline.”

The Mississippi Department of Public Safety denied the litigation’s claims, saying there is no proof the agency did anything that was “the moving force behind the alleged injuries to Plaintiff.”

U.S. District Judge Kristi H. Johnson has since dismissed the department from the case, which remains pending against the former officers. They have asked for the lawsuit to be dismissed. 

This is a developing story.