District Attorney Cody Womp
Appearances
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 08: Closing Statements
It only took about 40 minutes of deliberation for the jury to sentence Jason Chen. Womp said this is the quickest she's ever seen a jury come to a decision.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 08: Closing Statements
His 6'1", large individual, the victim's size is barely 5 feet, around 100 pounds.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
And images of the day came from this, a maroon sheet that was found. in jason chin's apartment but how it was found and in what direction and in what specific part of the bed remains to be seen and that's because what um johnny lawrence testified himself about
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
which is the changing in the crime scene from the first time Chattanooga police officers went in with their body cameras on, which would have been November 27th in the early morning hours after Pace's mother and father called them there. to when those crime scene photos were later taken by CSI investigators from the Chattanooga Police Department.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
Now, we've seen these images before in hearings about this case. Let's take a little bit of a look about what some of them show. We're not gonna show all of them to you. You can see here, In these comparison images, they're pointing out a few different things. They're saying a door was closed. Again, there's a relapse of several days in between these two. Different items there on the floor.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
The blind position is different. And then if you can see in the right-hand image, there's a pair of underwear that's on the floor that isn't there in the first image. Another thing that the prosecution brought up on cross-examination of Mr. Lawrence, was the direction and the shape of these supposed handprint blood transfers there.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
They pointed out, if you look at that first big spot there that could be a finger, the edge is very straight. And the prosecution asked Mr. Lawrence, if you have a handprint, is the edge of it usually straight? Well, let me just read you the transcription of the testimony there. This is homicide investigator Paul Moyle from the prosecutor's office.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
He asked Lawrence, isn't it possible, sir, that what we actually see on the screen is not a bloody handprint or bloody fingerprints, but where the cloth that had been folded over and the transfer happened that way? And then Mr. Lawrence answers, not necessarily, because you have to understand what this stain is showing is variants of the fingers that have blood on them.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
And then we don't know how much blood was on there if this was a hand. So again, on cross-examination, the prosecution getting Lawrence to say that he's not sure that it was a hand either. So a lot of doubt about what we were actually seeing in some of these photographs raised and Something I thought was very interesting.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
Again, we've been talking in this case about how the jury is allowed to ask questions of the witnesses after the state and the defense are done. And the judge, Judge Boyd Patterson, has actually commended the jury on how good of notes they're taking and how specific their questions are. So one juror asks about the items that are moved in the apartment.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
Again, these items from Mr. Lawrence's own report. So the judge reads the jury question there at the end. Do you think it's possible that Jason Chin moved items on November 27th after the body cam footage was filmed? Since cellular records, again, this is from earlier testimony in the week, show him in that same area later in the day.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 07: The State Rests
So a cell phone expert who extracted the locations of Jason Chin testified earlier in this week that he was in the same location of Tremont Street later on the 27th. And then this is kind of where this all comes down. The expert witness, Mr. Lawrence, says there's nothing that gives me any information about who moved the items he's talking about. There's nothing to lock in who it was.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
And you're going to see through those text messages that Jason can reciprocate that as much.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
That familiar Tinder thing that Jasmine and Jason knew so well because that's how they met.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
At some point after her grandmother passed away, were you not able to get in touch with Jasmine? Correct. The next day. Katrina was desperate to find her daughter. Days had gone by without any communication.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
And we went back to the apartments to view this tree footage. And while doing so, I looked back at my and Jasmine's messages. Okay. And seeing that, she had sent me a pin and dropped her location. And that's why we went to the 1-10-3 line. What caused you to look back at your and Jasmine's? And when you say conversations, you mean your text thread? Yes, our text thread.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
What caused you to go back and look at that? I don't remember. We were trying to get the... footage working at the apartments. And I didn't notice it before because I had sent her a pin drop on the 22nd because we normally had been taking my grandmother to the hospital downtown and we didn't that day. And so I had sent her a pin drop showing her what hospital we were at.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
So I didn't notice that she had sent a pin drop. Because I thought the pin drop was sent to her.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
What was your reaction when you saw this location drop? At the time that you saw the location drop, did you know of anybody that's lived or frequented this building? No. So you traveled to this location. Do you recall what the address was? It's 110 Trueblood Street. And it's an apartment building, is that correct? Yes. Okay, everybody's together.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
And so how did you get into the apartment building? Actually, a gentleman that lived there let us in. And did something cause you to arrive at apartment 210?
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
What was that? Spoke to a neighbor that said that he heard a woman scream. within several minutes of the pin drop that I had received from my daughter. And Jason's apartment door was the only one that someone didn't answer. So the person told you that this frame had come from a certain apartment. Was that apartment 210? It was. And did you and your family not call that door? We did not answer it.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
Okay. Explain to the jury what you and your family members proceeded to do. Was anybody there? No. What did you start doing when you got to the apartment? Opened up debt stores, found my daughter's ID and credit cards that I had seen on the counter. A little travel bag of hers. I did. I did.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
When you arrived at the home, who answered the door?
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
State of Tennessee, Criminal Court for Hamilton County, 2023. Count 1, the grand jurors upon their oath do present that Jason Chen, on or about the 23rd day of November 2022, in Hamilton County, Tennessee, and before the finding of this indictment, did unlawfully, intentionally, in the premeditation, inflict mortal injuries on Jasmine Case.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
which resulted in the death of Jasmine Pace on or about the 23rd day of November, 2023, in violation of Tennessee Code Annotated 39-13-202 against the peace and dignity of the state.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
The suitcase was located in a brushy area just yards from the bank of the Tennessee River and right off of Suff Creek Road. In it was the body of Jasmine Pace, who had been placed in a fetal position inside of three black trash bags. Her right ankle was handcuffed to her right wrist. Her left ankle had been shackled to her right arm. Her wounds were extensive. You will hear from Dr. Coswell,
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
medical examiner for Hamilton County who will describe those wounds in great detail. He stabbed her over and over and over again, not seven times, not 29 times, not 43 times, but 60 stab wounds. One wound through and through, from the right side of the neck all the way through the left. Another so deeply penetrated her rib cage that the tip of the knife broke off into her lung.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
You will see the tip of that knife. Eventually, and only because of the relentlessness of Jasmine Pace's family, the Chattanooga Police Department's Homicide Division, executed a search warrant at Jason Chen's apartment on November 28, 2020.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
The missing persons investigation quickly became a homicide investigation when, even despite his best efforts to clean it up, Jasmine Pace's blood, upon the execution of a search warrant, was located all over Jason Chin's apartment.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 02: The Trial Begins
And when you think that you have seen enough evidence that Jason Chin killed Jasmine Pace, you will be convinced that he stuffed her body in this suitcase after placing it in trash bags because you will hear from a fingerprint expert. The fingerprint expert will tell you that Jason Chen's fingerprints were found on the innermost trash bag that surrounded her vault.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 01: Jury Duty
This is a high-profile murder case originating from Chattanooga, which has garnered significant media attention. To ensure a fair and impartial trial, 16 jurors will be selected, 12 to serve on the jury panel, and four as alternates.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 01: Jury Duty
Due to the extensive coverage and public interest in the case, all selected jurors will be sequestered in Chattanooga to protect them from outside influence and to uphold the integrity of the judicial process.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
I think that that's what this job is. This office, any prosecutor's office, should be victim-focused or why are we all here? And certainly crimes matter that don't have victims. You can argue that there's a lot of crimes that do have victims that we don't necessarily categorize like that, but... We should all prioritize crimes with victims as prosecutors.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
And that's what my message is to this office all the time. We have to make sure we're taking care of this community, not just public safety, but taking care of people in this community. And so in these cases, when you... prepare for a trial like this one or any trials that we have where we spend years preparing, you really get to know the victim well.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
And so by the time you get to trial, you know their family, you know what they were like when they were 15 years old, you've heard all the stories, you really get a sense for better or for worse. Sometimes you learn bad things, you know, but you get to know them. And so by the time you get to trial, it really is like, for me, personal. You know this person. You know their family.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
They're in your office. You've seen them struggle throughout the last two years since their daughter died. You've seen the ups and the downs to a certain extent. And so it is personal. By the time you get to trial, in my opinion, all you really want to do is fight for them. Because you've been through this process, seeing it from their point of view. And so it is.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
It's hard to not make it too personal. For me, I have to remind myself to just take a step back sometimes because it It can affect you and it will affect you if you let it. But to a certain extent, I think that's a good thing. I hope that I always feel that way. And if I don't care like I do now, I hope that I'll leave this job and do something else.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
Any cases involving children, the rape of a child case that I tried in Bradley County was one of my first big trials. And being able to get a victory for a child like that, who afterwards will say, I didn't think anybody was going to believe me. Because kids don't come forward often because they don't think anybody's going to believe them. Um, and they're scared.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
And so to, to have a victory for a child where the system believed them and protected them, like we're supposed to, it makes you feel like this is not just a profession. It's a passion. It is, you know, it's for me, it's sort of who I am. Um, but any, any case with the children, um, but a case like this with a, with a victim who
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
really was just 1000% innocent in all of this and did not deserve to die and was not involved in any type of criminal activity. And, you know, this was just so random and did not have to happen that it makes it a real privilege to be able to to fight for her. But any of these trials, and most of the trials I've tried have to do with victims.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
Most of the cases that my office tries have to do with victims. We try drug cases here and there. We've tried a theft in the last year, but for the most part, we focus on victims and that means that we take these cases to trial.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
I hope that the closing argument resonated with people across the country. First of all, I think that there's more victims of crime across the nation and across our state than people realize, until it happens to you.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
And whether you're just a victim of a burglary or you're a victim of a violent crime like this one, there's a lot of victims and survivors throughout our community that we forget about.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
You know, something may happen two years ago and the person goes through the court process and then over time they're forgotten about and nobody around them really understands what they went through or the fact that they're a survivor of this type of crime. So I hope that the community realizes that there are people fighting for victims and especially victims and survivors.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
I hope that they can say, and we've gotten some of this feedback. I was a victim or I was a survivor and my boyfriend did this to me in 2009. And some of the greatest emails I got were those kind of emails like, I was in tears during the jury verdict because this happened to me and I didn't think anybody cared. And that really means a lot to me. Like that's a reminder of why we're doing this.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
So I hope the community knows that there are offices like ours that are doing it for all the right reasons. Me too. Absolutely.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
I think such an example of that from this trial when it, it was a little bit early on to really hit home for the jury because Katrina was our first witness. But how identical she looks to her daughter. So much. Always, yeah. And I mean, always stood out to me as like, oh my gosh, she is up there on the witness stand. She looks exactly like her daughter.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
We're going to show her driver's license so that you can see. Yeah. They are real people. They have moms that sometimes look just like them that are willing to testify on their on their behalf. And so, yeah, I mean, what Mommy, y'all didn't know as much about the case at that point in time because she was our first witness.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 10: After the Verdict
But looking back, I mean, her mother looks exactly like her daughter who this has happened to. And I thought that, I mean, honestly, I think it's a sweet moment for me to see her on the stand. And what a mom, you know, what a mom. Katrina Bean is the mom that we all aspire to be. And so I thought that that was a sweet moment.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 05: The Body in the Suitcase
Your Honor, one second. Can we have one second? They moved the trash can in front of the defendant and they brought little napkins over here. If it applies to the gallery that there can be no outbursts, Mr. Chin also needs to be self-imposed during this testimony or he can exit the court as well.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 05: The Body in the Suitcase
Okay, well, the trash can was just a little closer to him. I've already indicated that he's feeling unwell. I'm just saying that's prejudicial as well, Judge.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 05: The Body in the Suitcase
That's no longer a medical examiner interest, that's law enforcement interest.
SEQUESTERED Podcast
Episode 05: The Body in the Suitcase
So what we're actually looking at is where is that quarter and a half of blood?