Judge rules murder case will continue

Tonight, we have an important update about our ongoing investigation into the Phoenix homicide detective who repeatedly mishandled evidence. Just a couple weeks ago, we reported a judge was deciding whether or not to dismiss a first-degree murder case because of a history of mistakes by Detective Jennifer DiPanzio and because officials kept that information secret from the court. But in this new ruling, the judge just ruled that case will continue and go to trial. Here are some of the key findings. Police and prosecutors should have disclosed DiPanzio's history of misconduct and repeated problems with cases. But since the defense found out about it before trial, it did not cause irreparable prejudice. In other words, a defense attorney alleged a cover-up. But since he was able to uncover the things that officials were trying to hide and force them to release it, it's all fine. Now here's some quick background about Detective DiPanzio. She was married to an assistant chief and in mid-2021, as problems with her case piled up, she went on medical leave and never returned to work, retiring a year and a half later under a confidential disability claim. She claims to be too unwell to testify or answer questions, but we uncovered she had been working multiple jobs and traveling. Now back to the judge's ruling. It came after a two-day evidentiary hearing. And while it didn't lead the judge to dismiss this specific murder case, there were some stunning moments. Several Phoenix officers took the stand, and their testimony revealed some troubling facts about how the police conduct homicide investigations, oversee detectives, and how the department polices itself. As you can see, we had a camera in the courtroom, and we'll have several more stories laying this all out in the coming weeks. I'm Investigator Dave Biscobing, ABC 15, Arizona.