Closing arguments heard in Jason Chen’s motion to quash evidence

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (WDEF) – The defense attorney for a man accused of killing a 22-year-old woman is continuing to argue his motion to quash important evidence in his murder case.

Jason Chen is charged with first degree murder and abuse of a corpse in the November 2022 death of Jasmine Pace.

We’re still months from the main trial, however, Friday felt like a closing argument day, as both sides argued their side on a motion to quash evidence.

Joshua Weiss, Chen’s defense attorney, argued that investigators exceeded the scope of their searches inside of Chen’s apartment, violating his Constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment.

Weiss said,​​ “Is this court going to allow an obviously manipulated and compromised crime scene at trial?”

He added that in his opinion, the Pace family was given the go ahead by Chattanooga Police Officers to continue their own investigation into Jasmine Pace’s disappearance. 

Jason Chen walking into court, charged with the killing of Jasmine Pace (left) in November.

Weiss argued that this turns the family, especially Jasmine’s mother Catrina Pace, into state actors subjected to Constitutional limitations.

Weiss said, “Mr. Chen is here today in this court to be held accountable, that’s what the law is doing. Trying to hold a person accountable. This court should also hold everyone else accountable as well.”

He in particular played a recording of a conversation between lead investigator Zach Crawford and the Paces discussing the potential issues of the family’s initial search.

Crawford is heard on that recording saying, “This is going to be a field day for her friend’s lawyer if there is eventually a case, but obviously we’re more worried right now about her getting found.”

However, Hamilton County District Attorney General Coty Wamp believes that the Pace’s family acted within reason given their daughter’s disappearance.

General Wamp said, “They have the most legitimate motivation to search a residence, to enter a residence that is not their own. There is nothing more legitimate than finding a child you believe is in danger.”

She further argued that the family was back into a corner by Chattanooga Police’s lack of initial investigation.

General Wamp said, “There are facts involved that we’ll never ever see again, with a family trying to find their family and law enforcement not helping, which is what happened. The Chattanooga Police Department failed the Pace family, and they had to do their own investigation.”

Weiss rebutted that their private investigation went too far.

He argued, “It didn’t become about finding Jasmine, it became finding Jason. That’s why they’re posted and surveilling his apartment. They’re not out going to different places looking for Jasmine, they’re looking for Jason.”

He further stated in regards to how the family entered Chen’s apartment that, “I don’t think we ever heard the full truth.”

General Wamp agreed that there are questions about their entrance and whether or not it was illegal, but added that it was irrelevant compared to the family’s desperation for finding their daughter, asking, “For what purpose does it matter whether the door was secured or not?”

She also called the property manager, Classidy Bluffington of Chen’s apartment to the stand, in which Bluffington testified that Wise Properties, who own the Lofts at Tremont where Chen lived, decided to give him a three day notice on his door after learning he was charged for a homicide, citing Tennessee state law giving them to ability to do so for extreme situations.

However, Weiss said he had an issue with this eviction, saying his client never got it because he was already incarcerated. and therefore was entitled to a reasonable expectation of privacy during both the initial November search and a second search in January when Wise Properties was renovating the apartment.

Bluffington said they charged the Chen family over $20,000 in damages related to the psychical and reputational damage caused by the alleged incident, which she says Chen’s father paid in a lump sum last summer.

She also testified that Chen’s father also visited the apartment to get his son’s belongings, being given a temporary key to do so with supervision.

There was also a debate over whether the use of address of Chen’s apartment, 110 Tremont Street, was legal given that the location given by Catrina Pace to police was geographical coordinates.

Weiss argued that this was not specific enough, and contributes to both the search warrant and affidavit in this case to be too vague and illegally secured.

Meanwhile, General Wamp argued that every geographical coordinate will always be connected to an address, and the suggestion that it could represent multiple addresses was “disingenuous”.

Meanwhile an attorney for the Pace Family raised concerns about a motion the defense says they have filed.

Attorney Ben McGowan says that Joshua Weiss is looking to obtain Catrina Pace’s phone in a search warrant.

She had testified that she had entered Chen’s apartment at least three or four times while she was looking for daughter.

McGowan says that the court shouldn’t grant that motion.

He said, “I think what he is doing is engaging in a fishing expedition in the hope that she was, I don’t know, maybe not doing what she had testified. The reality is that this is such an invasive search, that even the State would have a very high burden in a search warrant of getting access to get what Mr. Weiss is asking for.”

He also argued that Weiss hadn’t properly submitted the warrant to the court, which Weiss disagreed with, saying he hadn’t broken Rule 17 of Tennessee Criminal Procedure.

General Wamp said that she is still reviewing that particular matter.

Hamilton County Judge Boyd Patterson says he will review case law and testimony in the case to make his decision.

He will make that decision at the next hearing, currently scheduled for August 5.