PHOENIX — A former Phoenix homicide detective mishandled evidence in an unknown number of murder investigations over the course of years and it’s leading to widespread confusion and concern in dozens of ongoing cases.
The revelations about Detective Jennifer DiPonzio’s malfeasance were discussed publicly during a special consolidated court hearing on March 24th.
Both prosecutors and defense attorneys told a judge that the extent of the evidentiary problems are not fully known. At this point, 37 court cases are affected, and at least 61 police investigations.
Those numbers could grow, and they don’t include any prior convictions or plea deals already completed.
“Det. Jennifer DiPonzio had her fingers, as it goes in the metaphor, in a lot of murder pies,” defense attorney Shawn Collins told the court during the hearing. “We know this has been an issue since July 2021. She’s trained other people. She was involved in other murders… A huge number of cases is going to come out to be affected by this.”
Until now, most of the information about DiPonzio has been kept confidential and sealed under protective orders because her misconduct is tied to a medical condition.
She went on industrial disability leave for a psychological issue in July 2021, according to information discussed by attorneys in court. DiPonzio later resigned in lieu of an internal investigation.
Multiple defense attorneys told Judge Jennifer Green that Phoenix police officials and Maricopa County prosecutors have slow-walked and withheld information about the extent of DiPonzio’s problems.
For those reasons, they said the court should lift the protective orders and rule that the state produce more information about DiPonzio’s condition and the cases she was involved in.
“The Phoenix Police Department knew about the mishandling of evidence, the errors and inconsistencies, a long, long time ago,” defense attorney Bobbi Falduto said in court. “DiPonzio went on industrial leave July 28th of 2021… We received a one-page supplement, that listed eight or ten lieutenants, sergeants, detectives from the homicide bureau, that they had gone into Det. DiPonzio’s workspace on July 9th of 2022, almost a year later, and that was when they allegedly found a hoard of evidence that she had not impounded, supplemented, turned in, whatever it was. They took the boxes and went through all of the evidence.”
So far, defense attorneys said they have only received 24 pages of redacted material outlining issues with DiPonzio’s handling of evidence.
The 24 pages are apparently an initial “fact-finding” document that would be the starting point for an internal disciplinary investigation.
But prosecutors told the court that’s all the information Phoenix police allegedly have on the matter because they never conducted a full internal investigation due to DiPonzio’s resignation.
“There were no mistakes that were covered up, no errors that were covered up. We are not trying to cover up anything. We are not trying to conceal anything,” said MCAO Capital Bureau Chief Kirsten Valenzuela, during the hearing.
Valenzuela also said, “The defense is able to clearly evaluate and see all of the errors, all of the lack of documentation, all of the lack of proper policy following, etc., despite the very minimal redactions that we made.”
Despite the issues with DiPonzio’s work and a consolidated hearing involving 37 murder cases, she is not currently listed on Maricopa County’s so-called “Brady List,” a database of officers with integrity concerns that should be disclosed to defendants.
ABC15 has repeatedly reported on the failures of the Phoenix Police Department and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to meet their obligations to turn over exculpatory “Brady” material, which is required under the constitution.
The Phoenix Police Department is under a wide-ranging Department of Justice investigation. It’s one of the reasons defense attorneys argued that transparency in cases involving the city and its police force is necessary.
“This does involve an issue of the highest order,” said defense attorney Seth Apfel. “It’s the ability of every single person in this room to speak on a matter of importance of the highest order and that is maleficence of a detective in murder cases. It can not be permitted to silence people on an issue of such great import.”
Judge Green signaled she would likely increase the amount of public information related to DiPonzio in the 37 murder cases currently before the court.
An official ruling has not yet been released.
In response, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office released the following statement.
Prosecutors in the homicide bureau were notified in September 2021 that Det. DiPonzio was on extended sick leave. In November of 2022, upon learning that Phoenix Police had begun an internal affairs investigation, MCAO immediately took steps to comply with all of its discovery obligations. Since that time, the office has obtained documents from Phoenix Police and added them to the Rule 15 Discovery Database for disclosure. The office made limited redactions to protect victim information and other ongoing investigations. Unredacted documents have been provided to the court for review.
The Rule 15 Disclosure Database is the official name for MCAO's "Brady list."
DiPonzio's name is not included in their latest public version that was released last week. Instead, MCAO said the former detective is on what’s called the “Tier 2” internal Brady list.
Phoenix Police also released the following statement.
The Phoenix Police Department takes the integrity of our investigations very seriously. When this former detective went out on leave, we transferred her cases to other detectives, following our normal practice whenever a detective becomes unavailable. Our organization is required to follow the law regarding employee rights, and does so. This employee applied for a disability retirement through the City of Phoenix Police Pension Board, which was approved. In accordance with discovery requirements, we have been continuously working with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office to assist in bringing these cases to resolution.
Contact ABC15 Chief Investigator Dave Biscobing at Dave@ABC15.com.
