PHOENIX — Where was the gun?
For four years, that’s been one of the key questions raised by the family of Jacob Harris, a 19-year-old fatally shot in the back by a Phoenix SWAT officer following an alleged armed robbery.
Police claim a black handgun was found in the dirt just feet from where his body landed.
The family believes the gun was planted.
“It’s frustrating,” said Roland Harris, Jacob’s father, who filed a federal lawsuit that’s now on appeal. “You never get the truth.”
The truth – whatever it may be – has been further muddled by revelations that the homicide detective in charge of the crime scene has since been exposed for failing to properly document, impound, and handle evidence in dozens of murder cases going back years.
RELATED: Phoenix detective's mishandled evidence impacts dozens of murder cases
Her name is Jennifer DiPonzio.
DiPonzio went on medical leave in 2021 and eventually retired after she was confronted with her mistakes.
Attorneys for the city have repeatedly told judges in criminal and civil cases that she’s too unwell to be interviewed or testify.
It’s why she was never deposed in Harris’ lawsuit.
“We would have got the truth,” Roland Harris said. “[My attorneys] would have got the truth that they planted that gun.”
The shooting happened on January 11, 2019.
Phoenix special assignment officers were surveilling a group of teens in connection with a series of fast-food armed robberies.
Following one of the alleged robberies, officers in unmarked police vehicles quietly tailed the suspects for roughly eight miles before using a “grappler” unannounced to stop their SUV.
Video of the operation was recorded by a police aircraft.
The footage shows officers immediately fired a flashbang after the vehicle stopped. Jacob Harris ran out of the SUV and away from officers.
He was shot within three seconds.
An object – it’s not clear what – files out of his hand as he’s hit.
Roland Harris is adamant it was Jacob’s cell phone.
“[The gun] was planted. I’m absolutely saying it was planted,” Roland Harris said. “How did the weapon get wet? It did not rain on January 11. They planted his weapon there. And they put his cell phone back in the vehicle. What officer did that, I do not know. But I am absolutely saying they planted a handgun.”
Multiple evidence photos show a handgun laying in the dirt.
But Harris’ attorneys have argued the pictures don’t show a relation to where Harris’ body was laying and no officers testified that they remember seeing a gun next to the body.
“[Phoenix] still cannot direct the court to a single piece of testimony, or evidence, establishing where the black gun was purportedly found in relationship to Jacob Harris’ body,” according to a brief filed as part of Harris’ appeal.
In a deposition, another homicide detective, Ariel Winter, said he did not know where the gun was recovered.
He said that would be a DiPonzio question, records show.
“It’s CYA,” Roland Harris said. “I mean, they know. The officers know. Everybody knows.”
In emails attached to the lawsuit’s public filings, city attorneys said DiPonzio couldn’t be made available for a deposition because she could “hardly speak at all” and was “out of breath constantly.”
Her medical condition is confidential.
But it’s been used as the reason why she can’t be interviewed or testify in dozens of ongoing criminal cases.
Earlier this year, ABC15 revealed that DiPonzio’s mistakes while handling evidence had impacted at least 37 active court cases and 61 police investigations.
Before her evidentiary issues became public, records show Phoenix police withheld information about them from the courts for more than a year.
RELATED: Attorney alleges 'cover-up' with murder detective's mishandled evidence
In the Harris case, a district court dismissed the lawsuit last year, ruling that “no reasonable jury could find Officer Bertz’s actions were unjustified.”
At the time of the decision, the district court was not aware of DiPonzio’s history of mishandling evidence – an issue that’s being raised on appeal.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals held an in-person hearing on the case on September 13, and the dispute about the gun’s location was discussed.
A decision is likely months away.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
