Dale City man found guilty of malicious wounding

By Amanda Stewart

Published: April 15, 2008

The question before a judge in Prince William Circuit Court Monday wasn't who killed Rodney Cottoms.

The 30-year-old Dale City man's Nov. 24 shooting death was ruled a justifiable homicide by Commonwealth's Attorney Paul B. Ebert so murder charges were not brought against the shooter.

The question left for Judge William D. Hamblen to decide Monday was what happened immediately before and after Cottoms was shot and killed.

Jarrod Michael Friedline, 24, was charged with larceny from a person and malicious wounding in connection with the incident.

Prosecutors argued that Friedline, Cottoms and a third man attacked another man, Brandon Edwards, in the 14300 block of Southgate Court in Dale City in the early morning hours of Nov. 24.

During the fight, Edwards fired a shot that hit Cottoms in the carotid artery, Ebert said in his opening statement. Cottoms was pronounced dead at the scene.

Prosecutors argued that after Cottoms was shot, Friedline went through his pockets and stole cash, a paycheck and a cell phone.

Hamblen found Friedline guilty of maliciously wounding Edwards and not guilty of stealing from Cottoms.

Before the Nov. 24 incident, there had been "bad blood" between Friedline and the Edwards family for years, Ebert said in his opening statement.

Friedline was angry with Edwards' younger brother for an incident in 2005 when he had a sexual relationship with Friedline's girlfriend, witnesses said.

On Nov. 23, Friedline, Cottoms, the Edwards brothers and some of their other friends were all drinking at the Cheeseburger in Paradise restaurant in Dale City, witnesses testified.

Edwards and Friedline were "cordial" toward each other at the time, Edwards testified.

But later that night, Edwards got into a fistfight with a friend of Friedline's, because he "had been saying things" about the 2005 dispute that night, Edwards said.

"I asked him what was going on. He pushed me and there was a brief scuffle,"  Edwards said.

Later that night, Edwards returned to his home in the 14300 block of Southgate Court.

He said he was outside the house smoking when Friedline, Cottoms and the third man started coming down the street to meet him.

Edwards said he thought the men just wanted to talk.

"All three of them began to rush me," Edwards said. "I drew my weapon and told them to back up."

Cottoms said he didn't think Edwards would do anything with the weapon, Edwards said.

The three men then rushed toward Edwards, who tripped and fell backward, he said.

"They were on top of me, hitting, kicking and         punching me, more kicking than anything," Edwards said.

Edwards said he was curled into the fetal position while the men kicked him for what "seemed like forever."

"They were going to kill me," Edwards said. "I looked away and pulled one shot."

That shot hit and killed Cottoms, prosecutors said.

Ebert ruled in December that the shooting was             justifiable because Edwards had reason to fear for his life.

Edwards suffered cuts and bruises on his back, shoulder and face during the fight.

Friedline's defense attorney John Gullette argued that Edwards' injuries were not extensive enough to support the charge of malicious wounding.

Hamblen disagreed, saying that Edwards' injuries would have been more severe if he had not fired the shot that ended the fight.

"This isn't a fight between two kids in a school yard," Hamblen said. "These are grown men who beat this man down to the ground."

For that reason, Hamblen said, he found Friedline guilty of malicious wounding.

Hamblen found Friedline not guilty of larceny because while there was evidence that Friedline took items from Cottoms' pockets after his death, there was not sufficient evidence to prove why he took the items. He could have been taking the items to safeguard them, and not to steal them, Hamblen said.

Friedline is being held without bond pending a July 24 sentencing hearing.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014 or .