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Opening statements will be made tomorrow in Ames trial

Jury of seven men and seven women has been chosen.

Date published: 9/12/2005

A jury was selected today in the trial of John Frederick Ames, a Caroline County man accused of killing his neighbor in April 2004.

Ames will face a 12-member panel with two alternates comprised of seven men and seven women. Court adjourned about 5 this evening and will resume tomorrow morning at 9 for opening statements.

Ames, a 60-year-old Richmond-based bankruptcy lawyer, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of 74-year-old vegetable farmer Perry Brooks.

Brooks, who lived next to Ames’ 650-acre Holly Hill farm outside Bowling Green, was found dead near a shed on Ames’ property April 19, 2004.

Retired Arlington Judge Paul Sheridan is presiding. Ames’ lead attorney is Craig S. Cooley, who was part of the defense team for convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo. Caroline Commonwealth’s Attorney Harvey Latney will prosecute the case.

Brooks went to Ames’ property that morning with two men—Michael Beasley and Paul Orlett—he’d recruited to help get his bull, which wandered onto Ames’ land and was being held in a stable there. Brooks was under court order to stay off the land.

They got the bull out of the stable and were heading back to their truck when an armed Ames drove up and said that the bull wasn’t leaving, Beasley testified at the preliminary hearing.

Brooks drew back a large stick he had been using to prod the bull but was shot in the face before he swung, Beasley said.

Beasley testified that Brooks was shot after falling to the ground. Brooks was shot four times with a 9 mm pistol, including bullets to the heart and right lung. He died at the scene.

Ames has argued that he shot Brooks in self-defense. Cooley argued at the preliminary hearing that Brooks knowingly broke the law coming onto the property and was only 2 feet away from Ames when he raised the stick.

Latney argued that Brooks never swung the stick and that it was clearly first-degree murder—which involves premeditation.

Ames raised 500 certified Black Angus cattle on his farm; Brooks’ cattle were not certified disease-free. The bull in controversy was later sold and slaughtered. It reportedly had suffered a severe injury to its reproductive organs.

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Date published: 9/12/2005