Episode 8 – Closing Statements
- Sara
- Mar 24
- 3 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
Day 7 of the trial: Tennessee v. Jason Chen
The murder trial for Jasmine Pace.
Listen here:
Sunday was our only day off during sequestration. A few extra minutes of sleep and a surprise itinerary: Ruby Falls and the Tennessee Aquarium. After six days of courtroom intensity, these natural wonders offered a strange, poetic contrast—one carved beneath the earth, the other hidden beneath the sea. It felt like a metaphor for what was to come: beauty and darkness existing side by side.
But Monday arrived. And with it, the closing arguments. The weight of justice was about to shift. No longer in the hands of the attorneys or the court. It was about to become ours—the jury's.
The Day It Became Ours
The morning began as others had breakfast, security, and silence. But inside the courtroom, it was immediately clear: this would be the last day of testimony.
After a brief legal battle over whether the jury could consider voluntary manslaughter, Judge Patterson ruled against the defense. The charge wouldn't be included. Then, we were handed a roadmap—jury instructions. Six possible verdicts for the murder charge and one for abuse of a corpse. A ladder of decisions to be approached one by one.
The gravity of it all settled in as Judge Patterson spoke. For the first time, I felt sleepy—not from boredom, but from mental overload. This wasn’t just legal language. It was the framework that would guide us in the most important decisions of our lives.
The Prosecution’s Final Word
Assistant District Attorney Paul Moyle didn’t waste time. He built his case with conviction—and a metaphor that stuck with me. He described premeditation as approaching a yellow light: You can hit the brakes or hammer the gas. Jason Chen hit the gas.
He walked us back through Jasmine's final hours—the scream heard by a neighbor, the location pin Jasmine sent her mother, and the silence that followed. Moyle said it wasn’t chaos—it was control—not panic—strategy.
He described the 60 stab wounds as 120 individual choices. Each movement is deliberate. Then he reminded us what came next: Tinder messages. Cleaning supply runs. A calm game of Call of Duty. Dragging a suitcase with Jasmine's body inside across a parking lot.
Moyle said each step was part of a plan—not a breakdown, not a snap, but a choice.
Watch Prosecutor Paul Moyle's closing argument:
The Defense Responds
Defense attorney Amanda Morrison didn’t deny Jason’s responsibility. Instead, she argued this wasn’t murder—it was manslaughter. A crime of passion. A loss of control.
Her voice was calm and deliberate, and she seemed to lock eyes with me at one point. She insisted there was no proof Jason shackled Jasmine before she died. She pushed for voluntary manslaughter, citing Tennessee law: passion + provocation = a lesser charge.
But the prosecution had already drawn their line in the sand.
Watch defense attorney Amanda Morrison's closing argument:
The Voice That Cut Through
District Attorney General Coty Wamp stepped up last. She was fierce. Focused. And she didn’t hold back.
She shook a thick folder—transcripts of the defense’s opening statements—and called out each inaccuracy, each narrative thread that hadn’t been backed by evidence.
She reminded us that Jasmine wasn’t just "the girl in the suitcase." She was a daughter, a friend, a person who mattered.
Her final request is that we remember this not as the trial of Jason Chen but as the trial of Jasmine Pace.
Watch DA Coty Wamp's Closing Statements:
The Randomness of Silence
Before we could deliberate, four of us were dismissed as alternates—chosen at random. Juror 5, someone we all saw as a leader, was one of them. Her journal entry, shared in this episode, captures the bittersweet heartbreak of being sidelined after giving everything.
It’s a reminder: justice doesn’t just happen in the spotlight. Sometimes, it’s carried quietly in the background.
Next Time on Sequestered
By the end of Day 7, it was finally time. For the first time in two weeks, we were allowed to speak freely, deliberate, and decide.
But that story, the deliberation and the verdict—it’s coming in the next episode.
For now, we hold the closing arguments, the passion, the pain, the memory of Jasmine Pace, and the responsibility that comes with seeking justice.
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