A Chattanooga police officer gave kudos to Jasmine Pace's family in the hallway out front of Jason Chen's apartment after they searched his home, according to body camera footage shown in court Friday — a search the defense is calling illegal.
"Kudos to you guys for tracking her location down this far," the male officer said in the video. "We legally can't investigate anything you found in there because it wasn't found legally."
Chen, 23, is accused of killing and abusing the corpse of Jasmine Pace, 22, on or about Nov. 23, 2022. Her family was unsure of her whereabouts for over a week, so they started an investigation of their own in an attempt to find her.
Joshua Weiss, Chen's attorney, has filed a motion asking all evidence be suppressed as a result of that search, including but not limited to evidence seized from Chen's apartment, his parent's residence, his cellphone location data and anything else potentially tainted as a result of the search by Jasmine Pace's family.
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Chattanooga officer gives kudos to Jasmine Pace’s family after search of Jason Chen’s apartmentChattanooga police officers were seen interacting with Jasmine Pace's family members Nov. 26 and Nov. 27, 2022, in body camera footage played Friday during a second hearing on Weiss' motion.
(READ MORE: 'Lots of gray area': Effort to dismiss evidence against Jason Chen to be heard)
Investigation starts
In the first body camera footage clip, Officer McKenzie Pierre was seen interacting with the victim's mother, Catrina Pace, and other family members.
Catrina Pace used the myChevrolet app to locate Jasmine Pace's vehicle, which was parked at Signal View Apartments on Mountain Creek Road. Chattanooga police officers responded.
Pierre was given details about Jasmine Pace's disappearance, the video showed. He offered to contact an investigator and put Jasmine Pace in a national missing person database.
When he went to contact the on-call investigator, Pierre got agitated, the video shows.
"God f——— d——-," Pierre said.
Weiss asked Pierre if he didn't think that specific investigator would do a good job at looking into Jasmine Pace's whereabouts.
"I believe she would," he said in court. "I just don't enjoy talking to her."
Pierre muted his body camera while speaking with the investigator, the video showed. He didn't turn it back on and then went to talk with Jasmine Pace's family again for seven or eight minutes.
Weiss pointed out that Pierre's actions went against Chattanooga Police Department policy. Officers are meant to have their body cameras fully functioning every time they interact with the public.
In his motion, Weiss argued law enforcement may have been advising and coaching Jasmine Pace's family to search Chen's apartment, which would make them state actors, a factor in whether the evidence from the search would be thrown out.
Pierre said he wasn't giving Catrina Pace or other family members advice about continuing their investigation or going to Jason Chen's apartment. He simply forgot to unmute his camera, he said.
"Would you agree this was totally unintentional?" Hamilton County District Attorney Coty Wamp asked.
"Yes, ma'am." Pierre said.
"You could not instruct someone to go to a location that no one knew, correct?" Wamp said.
"That's correct," Pierre said.
(READ MORE: Attorney for Jason Chen alleges Jasmine Pace's family unlawfully searched the crime scene repeatedly)
Search and sweep
Catrina Pace and other family members eventually tracked Jasmine Pace's phone location to Chen's apartment and went inside to search around before calling authorities, a second body camera footage clip showed.
Three of the four officers on duty — Trevor Creighton, Matthew Braisted and Jarrod Justice — arrived at Chen's apartment complex. The investigator who Pierre said he had negative feelings about was made aware of the incident but decided not to respond to the scene.
The family members told officers they went inside Chen's apartment and found Jasmine Pace's bag, driver's license and credit cards, the video showed.
Officers went inside Chen's apartment, too, the video showed.
"We need to make sure they're not digging around in this dude's apartment," one of the officers said in the video.
They were inside for more than three minutes. Officers initially searched for other members of Jasmine Pace's family, but they also looked around briefly for clues.
One officer commented the dishes in the sink were still wet, so someone had been in the apartment recently, the video showed.
Then, officers talked with Catrina Pace and other family members in the hallway outside Chen's apartment.
"You're doing some investigation," Creighton said to the family. "It's all been good stuff."
"Just keep on doing what you're doing," one officer said.
Creighton testified the statements were only to give the family comfort and reassurance and are not to be taken literally.
Justice told the family they could hire a private investigator and provided them with a phone number for one, the video showed. Private investigators can use tactics police cannot.
Justice said Friday the Chattanooga Police Department is extremely short-staffed, and it's a matter of opinion whether it affects their ability to perform duties.
No one was cited or arrested for criminal trespassing or burglary.
Justice, Braisted and Creighton could not testify to being positive about securing Chen's front door or making sure Jasmine Pace's family was off the premises.
"With hindsight, that would have been a good thing to do," Justice said Friday.
The more than six-hour hearing took place in front of Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Boyd Patterson. Both Chen and Jasmine Pace's family were present in the courtroom.
The next hearing on Weiss' motion is scheduled for May 10.
Contact Sofia Saric at ssaric@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6476.
