The courtroom is silent as the jury takes their seats, the weight of their responsibility settling in. In this gripping episode, Juror #11 takes us inside the first day of the trial of State of Tennessee v. Jason Chen, where the prosecution and defense lay out their opening statements, each painting vastly different pictures of what happened to Jasmine Pace. District Attorney General Coty Wamp commands the room, using powerful visuals—including the very suitcase in which Jasmine’s body was found—to drive home the brutality of the crime. The defense, led by Joshua Weiss, counters with a carefully crafted narrative, arguing that Jason Chen’s actions were not premeditated but rather an act of panic. As the prosecution calls its first witnesses, including Jasmine’s mother, the emotional toll of the case becomes undeniable. Tension builds as evidence begins to emerge—surveillance footage, crime scene photos, and chilling details that begin to unravel the truth. This episode immerses listeners in the heart of the courtroom, revealing the strategies, emotions, and pivotal moments that set the stage for what’s to come. If you want to see photos and read the blog for this episode, click here! Please rate, subscribe, and follow! You can email us at sequesteredpod(at)gmail.com Instagram: @sequesteredpod Website: sequesteredpod.com SEQUESTERED is a BP Production. On our website, you can see more photos, videos, and blogs about each day of the trial, organized by episode. Go to SequesteredPod.com Website: sequesteredpod.com Instagram: @sequesteredpod TikTok: @sequesteredpod Thank you for listening. SEQUESTERED is a BP Production.
Chapter 1: What was the juror's experience on the first day of the trial?
Before we begin, please be advised that this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence as presented during the trial. Please take care while listening. It's Monday morning, January 13th, 2025, 6 a.m. I hear a knock at my door. At 6.27, I emerge from my hotel room and make my way down to the elevator, where four deputies and my fellow jurors are already gathered.
We are counted multiple times before piling into the elevator. Once in the hotel lobby dining room, we grab breakfast, coffee, waffles, whatever we can stomach, while other hotel guests glance at us curiously, their eyes shifting between us and the uniformed officer standing guard.
After breakfast, we are counted again, collected, and then sent back up the elevators to our rooms so we can get ready for the day. By 8 a.m., we are loaded into our designated vans and driven to the courthouse. Upon arrival at the courthouse, we are escorted inside and led directly to our jury room. We would spend a lot of time in this room, starting that morning.
The bailiff informs us that pretrial matters are still being handled, and the judge will let him know when it's time for us to enter the courtroom. In the meantime, we are to remain in this room. If we need anything at all, we're told to knock on the door, but otherwise, we wait. The room is small, maybe 20 feet long by 10 feet wide.
On the wall opposite of the door, three windows overlook Cherry Street. From our third floor vantage point, we have a direct view of the stark windowless walls of the former Hamilton County Jail, which now sits vacant. In the center of the room, a large wooden conference table dominates the space. surrounded by 14 black cushioned office chairs.
Against the right wall in the far corner sits a small counter with just enough room for a sink and a commercial coffee maker. Above it, a set of cabinets. On the floor next to the counter stands a filtered water dispenser and a trash can. Beside the trash can, a small opening in the wall reveals a coat rack hanging between two bathroom doors.
A deputy rolls two more chairs into the room and reminds us again to knock on the door if we need anything. The 16 of us claim a chair and begin to settle in. Some immediately dive into books, others close their eyes, and a few initiate a game of Uno. Thankfully, I'd come prepared, with board games, a deck of cards, and an ample supply of Winto Green Lifesavers, which everyone appreciated.
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Chapter 2: What did Judge Patterson announce about the jury's role?
Lunch arrives at noon, and we are escorted down the hall into another, larger room to eat. With full bellies and hours of waiting behind us, we are ready to get this trial underway. Then, at 1.26 p.m., the bailiff knocks on the jury room door. The judge is ready for us. This is Sequestered, a juror's perspective on the murder trial for Jasmine Pace. I'm Sarah, juror number 11.
Each episode, I'll take you inside the courtroom, behind the scenes, and into the weighty moments of this trial as we honor Jasmine's life and navigate the complexities of seeking justice. Let's begin. This is episode two. The trial begins. Everyone is standing as the jurors enter the courtroom, waiting for each of us to shuffle into the jury box and take our seats.
Judge Patterson invites the room to be seated and welcomes the jury. The bailiff swears us in. Next, a line of deputies moves in front of our jury box, standing shoulder to shoulder and facing the judge. They too are sworn in, not just as officers of the court, but as our protectors for the duration of the trial. A visible reminder of the weight of our role
and the seriousness of the case before us. Then, Judge Patterson delivers an announcement. The jurors will be allowed to submit anonymous questions to witnesses throughout the trial. This would turn out to be quite a unique opportunity for us.
What's interesting in this case is that Judge Boyd Patterson actually lets the jurors ask their own questions. If there's something that they want to hear more on or they didn't get to hear on, they will send up a piece of paper. The attorneys will go up and read the questions and then Judge Patterson will ask those questions of the witness.
As we step into the Hamilton County courtroom, the layout immediately defines the space where the trial will unfold. Judge Patterson's bench sits up off the ground and is positioned diagonally in the far left corner of the room, facing the courtroom entry doors.
From this vantage point, he has a direct line of sight to the defense table, where attorneys Joshua Weiss and Amanda Morrison sit alongside the defendant, Jason Chen. Directly to their left, at the prosecution's table, sit District Attorney General Cody Womp and Chief Homicide Prosecutor Paul Moyle.
Beside them is a third person, one we would later learn to be Lead Investigator Zachary Crawford, a key figure in the case. To the right of the defense team, positioned along the right wall, is the jury. We sit in 16 blue office chairs, 14 of which are bolted to the ground, and all of which are in dire need of WD-40,
At the back of the courtroom, centered between the jury box and the judge's bench, sits the witness stand. It faces forward, positioned so that the attorneys, the judge, the jury, and the gallery of onlookers can all see whoever takes the seat. This is where we would spend the next several days, watching, listening, and waiting to unravel the truth.
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Chapter 3: How did the prosecution present the evidence?
but he insisted that it wasn't premeditated murder. Instead, he framed it as voluntary manslaughter, a crime of passion. Weiss painted Jason as someone who acted out of fear, shame, and emotional distress. He claimed that what happened wasn't a calculated act, but a tragic moment that had spiraled out of control.
According to the defense, Jasmine became enraged after discovering Tinder messages on Jason's phone. In response, Weiss alleged, she grabbed a broken wine bottle and attacked Jason. In the chaos, Jason stabbed Jasmine, not with the intent to kill, but in self-defense. The way Weiss told it, Jason wasn't a murderer. He was simply a man caught in an emotionally charged moment, reacting out of panic.
Here's a clip of attorney Joshua Weiss' opening statement.
Her playing hours? On November 23rd, 2022, Jason Chadwick killed Jasmine Pace. He didn't do it with premeditation. This is a momentary mask on for Jason. In November of 2022, he was a senior. The year before, he and Jasmine started to meet again. They met on a trip. In 2021, they dated for a few months, but they lost touch.
Jasmine started getting feelings for Jason.
And you're going to see through those text messages that Jason can reciprocate that as much.
She was in grief.
And on the night of November 22nd, around 11 p.m., she came over to Jason's house. And they did what they always do. They climbed, they smoked pot, they smoked glass, they watched movies. On the night of November the 22nd, they were drinking wine from the back bedroom.
In order to open one bottles of wine in the bedroom, Jason had to go to the kitchen and get a kitchen knife and take off that plastic wrap that goes around the top of the wine bottles. So he was able to get off the top of the wine bottle with the plastic wrap and he placed it on his nightstand.
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Chapter 4: What was the defense's argument in Jason Chen's case?
We went to 900 Mount Creek Road.
Eventually, Katrina called the police. Officer Pierre of the Chattanooga Police Department was dispatched and met the family near Jasmine's vehicle to take a statement. While Officer Pierre was on site, Katrina turned to the Verizon phone logs on Jasmine's account, searching for any clue. Scrolling through the recent calls, she noticed one number that stood out.
Jasmine had spent 71 minutes on the phone with this person on the morning of November 22nd. Katrina didn't know who the number belonged to, but she dialed. A man answered and identified himself as Jason Chen. From the start, something felt off. Jason played coy, acting casual, almost indifferent, claiming that he hadn't seen or spoken to Jasmine in a while. But Katrina knew that wasn't true.
She was staring at the phone records that proved otherwise. When she pressed him for details, Jason gave her an address, 500 Tremont Street. The family would later check that address and discover it was a vacant house still under construction. One thing was clear, Jason was lying. Officer Pierre was still standing by and overheard the conversation.
After reviewing the phone records himself, he confirmed what Katrina already knew. Jason had spoken to Jasmine that day, and now he was trying to cover it up. After gathering these details, Officer Pierre would leave the family to sort through having the vehicle towed back to their house. Later that night, he would officially enter Jasmine into the National Database for Missing Persons.
ensuring law enforcement agencies across the country would be alerted to her disappearance. Waiting for the car to be towed, Katrina continued searching for answers, and something clicked. Scrolling through her text thread with Jasmine, she noticed a location pin that Jasmine had sent her at 2.18 a.m. on the morning of November 23rd.
She had missed seeing this before because the text just above was a pin that Katrina had sent Jasmine from the hospital where her grandma was admitted the afternoon prior. The text messages must have blurred together. But now staring at her phone, Katrina can clearly see that Jasmine had sent this new location.
Sadly, this would have been the last text that Jasmine herself would ever send her mom, a final text that in many ways would help solve her own murder.
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.
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Chapter 6: What were the details surrounding Jasmine's death?
Jasmine's mother was the first witness to testify. Bean had to take a moment before coming up to the stand because in the defendant's opening statement, it was the first time she had heard Chen's attorney admit that Chen had killed her daughter. Yes.
Yes, it was.
Katrina recounted the last time she saw Jasmine alive, painting a vivid picture of her daughter's vibrant spirit. She spoke about Jasmine's energy, her kindness, her plans for the future. Each word a painful contrast to the brutal reality of why we were all in that courtroom. The jury listened intently, some shifting in their seats, others taking notes in quiet concentration.
Katrina's testimony reminded everyone that this wasn't just a murder case. It was a family's worst nightmare, a mother's unbearable loss, and a young life stolen far too soon. One significant detail in this case was the passing of Jasmine Pace's great-grandmother on her mother's side, a woman Jasmine was deeply close to.
On November 22, just hours before Jasmine was last seen, her great-grandmother was taken to the emergency room, where she passed away later that evening. By all accounts, this loss weighed heavily on Jasmine, and was mentioned during the trial as a possible factor in her emotional state leading up to her disappearance.
The defense argued that Jasmine's grief played a role in seeking comfort in her interactions with Jason Chen, ultimately leading her to visit his apartment that night. While the prosecution didn't directly link this event to the crime, it added another layer of complexity in understanding Jasmine's mindset in her final hours.
A reminder that she was not only a victim of violence, but also a young woman carrying the weight of profound personal loss.
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.
And as each hour passed, her fear grew. She refused to sit back and wait, so she became an investigator herself. On November 26, determined to track Jasmine's movements, Katrina went to a Verizon store and had her daughter's account loaded into a new iPhone.
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