Deputy Fired Over Friendship in Boys' Murder Case
Originally published by The Associated Press, March 24, 2002
PENSACOLA — A sheriff's deputy was fired because of his friendship with a convicted child molester charged with harboring two juvenile brothers accused of killing their father.
Escambia County Sheriff Ron McNesby said that on Friday he dismissed Deputy Reggie Jernigan, ending a 23-year law enforcement career, for violating regulations against associating with criminals and engaging in conduct unbecoming an officer.
"His close personal friendship with Ricky Chavis is unacceptable and has caused extreme embarrassment to the community, his fellow officers and to this agency," McNesby said.
Chavis, 40, is charged with being an accessory after the fact to the Nov. 26 murder of Terry King, 40, who was bludgeoned with an aluminum baseball bat at his home in nearby Cantonment.
King's sons, 13-year-old Derek and 12-year-old Alex, have been charged as adults with first-degree murder and face automatic sentences of life in prison without parole. The boys told investigators they were afraid their father would spank them for having run away from home.
Chavis admitted to investigators that he picked up the boys when they called from a store near their home shortly after the killing and hid them at his Pensacola home before turning them in the next day.
Jernigan was a jailer and Chavis an inmate when they met in the early 1980s. Chavis' record includes convictions for burglary and lewd and lascivious assault on two teen-age boys.
An internal investigation disclosed Jernigan frequently visited Chavis' home and neighbors said they often saw his patrol car there.
Jernigan told investigators Chavis did car repairs for him but they also socialized. About half the time when he visited, teen-agers and young adults were there playing video games or working on their bicycles, Jernigan said. He said he saw Alex King there 10 or 15 times and his brother about five times.
Alex's lawyer, James Stokes, contends that Chavis was the boy's "adult lover."
Jernigan told investigators he never saw Chavis do anything illegal although he had suspected he used marijuana.
The King brothers are in jail, separated from adult inmates including Chavis, awaiting a July 1 trial. A judge last week delayed Chavis' trial, originally set for Monday, until May 20.
