Registered Professional Reporter

Transcription

1 Filing # 7828 E-Filed 09// :41 : PM IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY, FLORIDA CIRCUIT CRIMINAL NO. l5-oo6cfano STATE OF FLORIDA, VS. JOHN N. JONCHUCK, Defendant. PLACE: PINELLAS COUNTY JUSTICE CENTER Room th Street North Clearwater, Florida DATE: October, 2017 TIME: 9:20 a.m. 9:45 a.m. REPORTED BY: Marcy K. Guincho Registered Professional Reporter Notary Public at Large 333 Third Avenue North, Suite 5 St. Petersburg, Florida (727) ***ELECTRONICALLY FILED 09// :41: PM: KEN BURKE, CLERK OF THE CIRCUIT COURT, PINELLAS COUNTY***

2 APPEARANCES DOUGLAS ELLIS, ESQUIRE PAUL BOLAN, ESQUIRE Assistant State Attorneys Office of Bernie McCabe, State Attorney Pineas County Justice Center, Room th Street North Clearwater, Florida Attorneys for the State JANE MCNEILL, ESQUIRE JESSICA MANUELE, ESQUIRE GREGORY WILLIAMS, ESQUIRE Assistant Public Defenders Office of the Public Defender, Bob Diinger Pineas County Justice Center 0 49th Street North Clearwater, Florida Attorneys for the Defendant

3 TROY HARPER, the deponent herein, being first duly sworn, was examined and testified as foows: DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. MANUELE: Q. Could you please state your name for the record? A. Officer Troy Harper. Q. And how are you employed? A. I'm an officer with the St. Petersburg Police Department. Q. How long have you been with St. Pete PD? A. Approximately 17 years. Q. A right. Any prior law enforcement experience? Q. Going back to January of 20 were you in any specialized unit at that time? A. Yes, I was assigned to the homicide unit at that time. Q. And during what period of time were you in the homicide unit? A. I was in the unit for approximately five years from roughly end of 2011 'til last year. Q. Okay. Being 2016? A. Yes. Q. We're here today because you've been listed as a

4 witness in the case of State of Florida versus John Jonchuck regarding the death of Phoebe Jonchuck that occurred back in January of 20. Are you familiar with the case? A. I am, yes. Q. I have that you authored one supplemental report; is that correct? A. That's correct. Q. Do you have that supplemental report with you today? A. I do. Q. Have you had an opportunity to review it? A. Yes. Q. Was there anything in that report that you found to be inaccurate or that you would like to Change? Q. Okay. Te me how you became involved in the investigation. A. I was contacted at home at approximately O:lOO hours on January 8th by my sergeant, Terre Skinner, reference to a possible homicide. He requested that I respond in to assist with the investigation. Q. And what was the location that you responded to? A. Skyway Bridge, roughly the area just north of the south to.

5 Q. Just north of the south to. Okay. A. I'm sorry. South of the north to. I apologize. South of the north to. Q. Were you at the Skyway or the Dick Misener? A. It ended up being the Dick Misener. I was originay told to go to the Skyway because we weren't sure of the exact location at that point. Q. And who did you make contact with at that location? A. First went to the police station and picked up Detective Mier. Then he and I both responded to the bridge together and we made contact with the on scene patrol supervisor, Sergeant Marklin, who was out at the bridge. Q. Okay. Did you at any point respond to the location where Mr. Jonchuck was taken? A. No, I did not. Q. Did you ever respond down to the Manatee Q. County Courthouse or the police department? A. No, I did not. Q. Did you ever respond to the marina where Phoebe was recovered? A. Yes, I did. Q. You get to the bridge. Is that the first

6 location you go to, the marina? A. Prior to I stopped at the police station, like I said, to pick up Detective Mier, who was the lead investigator on the case, and then we both responded to the Dick Misener Bridge. Q. And then from the bridge? A. To the marina. Q. Did you interview Officer Vickers at the bridge or subsequently? A. I interviewed him later at the police station. Q. Did you observe him at a at the scene at the bridge? A. I believe I did see him briefly but I didn't have any interaction with him. I didn't speak with him at a. Q. Did you get any witness statements when you were at the bridge? Q. Okay. And then once you were at the marina what is your role there? A. We were on the top of the bridge when we heard over the radio that her body had been recovered. So when we responded down to the marina we basicay were there when they brought her off the boat and the paramedics were working on her. She was immediately

7 loaded into an ambulance, rushed to the hospital and at that point that's when we went back to the station to kinda start continuing our investigation. Q. Okay. There were paramedics already at the marina? A. Correct. Q. So were you responsible for performing any life saving measures? I did not. Q. Could you actuay see what they were doing or you just could see that they were over her and working on her? A. A I could te is they were obviously performing CPR on her at that point. But that was a I could reay see. I was trying to stay out of the way. Q. Did you have any other role in the investigation at that scene? Q. And where did you go from the marina? A. I went back to the police station and that's when Detective Mier and I kind of separated as our responsibilities took us in different directions at that point. I remained at the station and began interviewing the officers that were involved. Q. Okay. And which officers did you interview?

8 A. Officer Sousa, and that's S o u s a, and Officer Price and then Officer Vickers. Q. As far as Officer Sousa's interview was that recorded? Q. Did you include a summary of his interview in your report? A. Yes, I did. Q. When you reviewed that summary of Officer Sousa's statements anything that you think you left out or was incorrect? Q. Okay. Same thing for Officer Price, was that interview recorded? A. It was not. Q. Okay. Have you summarized her statements to you essentiay in your report? A. Yes, I have. Q. Is there anything that you found that when you reviewed it you realized you had left out or would like to Change? Q. Okay. And then as far as Officer Vickers goes was his interview recorded? A. It was not.

9 Q. Okay. And did you summarize in your report the statements that he made? A. Yes, I did. Q. Okay. And reviewing that statement today was there anything that you realized you left out or that was incorrect in your report? Q. Okay. After doing those officers' interviews what was your next role? A. After interviewing a three officers, to include Officer Vickers, Detective Mier at that point had returned to the station, kinda gave him a summary of what I had been told by the three officers involved. At that point Detective Mier built a photo pak around Mr. Jonchuck. I did not assist with developing the photo pak. I had not yet seen a photo of him. So I didn't want to be at a construed in that way. I could show it unbiasedly to Officer Vickers. Once the photo pak was completed Detective Mier and I both made contact with Officer Vickers in the field training office. I read through the witness instruction form with him and then administered the photo pak. Q. Okay. And let me ask you this. Obviously John Jonchuck is now at least being circulated as a name,

10 whether you had seen his pictures or not. Does the name stick out to you as anybody that you think you made contact with in the past or know anything about? Q. And after showing Officer Vickers the photo pak was that process recorded in any way? Q. But you did take very detailed notes? A. Yes. Q. Why don't y'a do that regularly? You don't have to actuay answer that question. A. I can te you when I administer it's always everything on the form goes in my report. Q. You just put a lot more on your form than most people. A. I have been through many depos. Q. So after you do the photo pak this is a while you're continuously at the station at that point, right? A. Correct, yes. Q. What's your next role after the photo pak? A. I spoke to a female caer who had caed in who felt like she had information that might be pertinent to the case, Ms. Elaine Vendrone, V e n d r o n e. I just spoke with her over the phone briefly and she provided

11 11 information that she believed she had seen the suspect vehicle prior to the actual offense being committed at the bridge over in the Tampa area. So I just took a statement from her reference that. Q. Do you know what time this ca was made? Was it something that as soon as she caed in to the station they immediately put her through to you or did you get a message and then ca back? A. I don't reca exactly but I'm pretty positive it got transferred directly to us. I think I had to foow up on it. Q. You're pretty sure it did not get transferred to you, you're saying? A. Correct. Q. At the time that she cas do you remember thinking that this was something that had already been on the news? Everybody kind of knew a white PT Cruiser had been involved in something? A. I don't reca whether or not that was how she made the connection with the vehicle. I don't reca. I obviously hadn't watched the news up to that point. So I don't know how much of it had been out on the news already. Q. Do you know if the ca was transferred from like Hisborough or Tampa PD to St. Pete?

12 12 A. I don't know. Q. Did you ever do any foowup with Ms. Vendrone? A. Just the interview I did with her over the phone. That was it. Q. Did she provide any additional information other than what you've included in your report? Q. Did you ever Check into her as far as any background or criminal record or anything? Q. Do you know if anybody ever foowed up with her in person? A. Not to my knowledge. Q. Okay. Did you get an address or phone number for her? A. Yes, it should be listed in the captions of my report. Yes, I have it in my report under my supplemental report. Her information is there listed as a witness. Q. I see. Okay. After speaking with Vendrone what was your next role in the investigation? A. Detective Mier and I later responded this is obviously a the same day but now we're approaching it's daylight now. We later responded to Tampa to make contact with the victim's family.

13 13 Q. Okay. At some point the red light that you and Detective Foley there is reference to you and Detective Foley attempting to get Video from a red light? A. That's correct. Detective Foley foowed up on that and I'm not sure what the outcome of that was. Q. When you say you're looking for the intersection, was that the intersection that Ms. Vendrone had caed about? A. Correct. Q. Okay. A. Which would have been that intersection of West Kennedy and... Q. West Kennedy Boulevard and Westshore Boulevard? A. Correct, yes. Q. But as far as if anything came from that you don't know? A. I'm not sure. It would be in Detective Foley's foowup and I don't have that with me. Q. And then you said later then you start meeting with the next of kin? A. Correct. We went to Tampa to make contact with next of kin and also with Mr. Jonchuck's immediate family. Q. Okay. Who do you meet with first?

14 A. I believe we spoke with members of the Jonchuck immediate family. I spoke directly with Bryan Morris, who is an uncle. Q. Did Bryan Morris reach out to the police or how did you obtain his name? A. I believe that we actuay obtained information reference to Mr. Jonchuck's mother and Bryan Morris just happened to be at the house, residence we responded to in Tampa. Q. At Michele Jonchuck's house? That's where you said Bryan Morris was, John's mom's house? A. Correct, I believe so, yes. While Detective Mier was interviewing her I spoke to Mr. Morris. Q. Did you record your interview with Mr. Morris? Q. Is there any particular reason? A. Just not standard practice for us. Q. Was he cooperative? A. Yes. Q. Was he given the opportunity to come down to the station and give a recorded interview? Q. Do you reca who else was at the house that day when you spoke with him?

15 A. I do not. There were several family members there at this point because they were a aware of what was going on. But there was probably at least half a dozen people there. Bryan Morris was the only one I spoke to directly. Q. As far as whether you spoke to them, do you know who the people were in relation to Jonchuck? A. I'm not sure. They were a family of some sort but I'm not sure of the exact relation of everybody that was there. Q. And it was you and Detective Mier at this point? A. Correct. Q. Were there any other officers there? Q. Did the two of you ride together? A. Yes. Q. The exchange of messages that you coected A. Yes. Q. you put in your report that he forwarded the text messages to you. How exactly are the messages memorialized? A. They were sent to my work ce phone, my work iphone, in the form of screen shots. Q. Did you ever coect his phone to do any kind of

16 16 like forensic scan or dump of the phone? Q. So any messages that would have been deleted prior to the screen shots being taken, I guess is it fair to say we have no idea about if there is any of those? A. That's correct. Q. Did you actuay review the messages on Bryan's phone? A. Yes. We were going over them together and then after we went through them that's when I had him send me the screen shots of each message. Q. Okay. Was it an iphone? A. I do not reca exactly what his phone was. Q. Do we have the time stamps for each of the messages? A. No, I do not. I have it documented as when a group of them would have started but I don't have individual time stamps for each message as documented in my report. I do not reca if they were actuay visible on the actual screen shots. Q. Okay. So the messages on January 3rd, we don't know though if this was one continuous conversation that took place over the course of minutes or if a of these messages were just sent sometime on January 3rd?

17 17 A. That's correct. I'm not sure on that. Q. And then would that be the same for January 4th and January 5th? A. Correct. Q. Okay. Did you look through Mr. Morris' phone to see if there had been messages after the 5th or was that what he had read to you? A. The last messages that I have on the 5th were as far as they went. Q. So when you actuay looked at the phone you could see there were no messages after that? A. Correct. That was the end of the messages. Q. As to when the messages ended though, if there were subsequent messages that had been deleted we wouldn't know? A. Correct. Q. Okay. Did you ever ask to coect Mr. Morris' phone? Q. And so the messages that he said were coming from John came from an (813) phone number? A. That's correct. Q. But I gather from your report Bryan didn't have firsthand knowledge that that was John's number, but other family members had told him that was his number?

18 18 A. Correct. Q. How in depth of an interview did you do with Bryan Morris? A. My interaction with him dealt specificay with the information that was in his phone. Q. Okay. So as far as like any history they had or any of John's A. I didn't get into that with him. Q. Did you interview him at a about whether his behavior had Changed recently as compared to in the past or anything like that? A. I don't reca ever asking him that specificay. Q. Okay. The messages you have in your report, the screen shots are somewhere on a disc; is that right? A. Correct. Q. The message, sent photo of an empty bowl, did the message say, sent photo of an empty bowl, or was it a photo of an empty bowl? A. It was a photo of an empty bowl. Q. How long do you think you spent over at Michele Jonchuck's residence? A. I'm not sure. Probably less than an hour. Q. Okay. Were there any other addresses you went to? A. After we left there we went and actuay met with

19 l9 Phoebe Jonchuck's mother. Q. Is that Michee Kerr? A. Yes. Q. Do you reca where you met with her? A. I don't reca the exact address where we went. Q. Was it her house though? A. Yes. Q. Was this to do the death notification or was this a subsequent interview? A. Subsequent interview. Q. She had already been made aware? A. Yes. Q. Was Detective Mier with you when you went to Kerr's house? A. That's correct. Q. Who else was present at Kerr's house when you got there? A. It was Kerr and I believe her then live in boyfriend. I'm not sure what his name was. Q. Guy Kisser? Does that sound right? A. I'm not sure. Q. Were any of the kids at the house? A. There may have been. We didn't go inside the residence. We were just on the front porch speaking with those two.

20 20 Q. Was that interview recorded? A. No, not to my knowledge. Q. And what was the nature of that interview? A. Detective Mier pretty much ran the interview there. I was just there to assist him and there was just gathering a lot of history and information about the family and everybody involved. Q. Were you actively involved in the interview or were you just as backup? A. No, the interview would be a documented in Detective Mier's foowup report. Q. Okay. Would you be able to testify about anything that was conducted in the interview? A. I would have to review this report and read it. I didn't take any notes. Q. Do you reca Michee's demeanor at the time? A. She was visibly upset. She had Clearly been crying, was crying off and on. Prior to us interviewing her she was actuay speaking with some media. So she was Clearly upset. Q. Do you know about what time of day it was when you got out there? A. I don't know exact time. I would be totay guessing if I tried to give you a time. Q. Do you remember if it was morning or afternoon or

21 evening? A. I believe it was around noon, but I'm not positive. Q. When you did meet her was it anybody that you think you had come in contact with in the past? Q. Did you speak to the boyfriend at that time at A. Detective Mier did, yes. Q. Do you reca any specifics of his statements? A. I do not. Q. Do you know how long you were at Ms. Kerr's house? A. Again, I would say probably no more than an hour. Q. Was the media outside the whole time? A. No, they left after we arrived. Q. After speaking with Ms. Kerr what was your next involvement? A. Next involvement that was case related for me wasn't until the foowing day when I again made contact with Officer Vickers and we actuay responded back to the Dick Misener Bridge just so that he could walk me through the events, kind of point out locations on the bridge where he thought he had stopped, where he thought Mr. Jonchuck had stopped. Then we had a technician come

22 out to photograph the scene under daylight conditions. Then we ultimately ended up going out in the marine unit boat so that we could take photos from the water as we. Q. Did you have any involvement other than what we've discussed? Q. Did you ever give any interviews to any media? Q. Does St. Pete PD have a policy that if the media wanted to interview you do you have to go through your chief first or A. It would usuay come through the PIO. There would be a request through our public information officer and then it's approved by our chain of command to give an interview, but I typicay try to avoid those at a costs. Q. Anything that we haven't hit on that you were involved in? A. No, I don't believe so. MS. MANUELE: A right. CROSS-EXAMINATION BY MR. BOLAN: Q. I want to ask about the text messages again. So the messages that we have we have a string from

23 January 3rd, January 4th and January 5th, right? A. That's correct. Q. I'm just a little confused with some of the questions and answers. A. Okay. Q. The string of messages on January 3rd, were each of those messages a sequence on his phone one after the other? A. Yes, I believe so. Again, I'm sorry. I apologize I don't have the screen shots with me. So I don't remember exactly what they looked like. But based on the way that I documented they would have been a with that date and then one right after the other. Q. And you reviewed these messages on his phone before he sent you the screen shots? A. Correct. Q. It's your understanding that's what you wanted him to give you was the messages in order, correct? A. Correct. Q. So that would have been the same for January 4th and 5th as we? A. That's correct. Q. Just want to make sure. To your knowledge there weren't messages in between these screen shot messages? A. No, there would not have been, no. The screen

24 shots, obviously there is gonna be multiple. You can only get so many lines on each screen shot but... Q. You reviewed these messages on his phone? A. Yes. Q. When he sent you the screen shots did the screen shots appear to be an accurate representation of what you reviewed on his phone? A. Correct. Q. Were there messages looking at his phone that weren't screen shotted and not sent to you? A. Not from that particular number as it related to Mr. Jonchuck, no. Q. So this should have encompassed a the conversation between Bryan Morris and Mr. Jonchuck A. To my knowledge, yes. Q. that you reviewed on the phone? A. Yes. Q. I just wanted to make sure I was clear on that. REDIRECT EXAMINATION BY MS. MANUELE: Q. Did you ask who Doug is? There is a message that says, Doug is my father. Did you inquire of Bryan about whether -- A. I don't reca specificay asking him who Doug may or may not have been.

25 Q. Did you ever make contact with Mr. Jonchuck's father? A. I do not reca whether or not he was one of the people that were present there at the house, but I don't believe that he was. Q. The only time you would have potentiay made contact with him A. That would be at the house. MS. MANUELE: I don't have anything else. MR. ELLIS: Everybody reads. (Deposition concluded at 9:45 p.m.)

26 26 CERTIFICATE OF OATH STATE OF FLORIDA ) COUNTY OF PINELLAS ) I, Marcy K. Guincho, RPR, certify that Troy Harper, personay appeared before me and was duly sworn. WITNESS MY HAND AND OFFICIAL SEAL this 9th day of September, WON. K. QLMIHOOWO MARCY K. GUINEHO, RPR Notary Public, State of Florida at Large MY COMMISSION # FF 70 EXPIRES: June 30, 20

27 27 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER STATE OF FLORIDA ) COUNTY OF PINELLAS ) I, Marcy K. Guincho, RPR, certify that I was authorized to and did stenographicay report the foregoing deposition; and that the transcript is a true record of the testimony given by the witness. I FURTHER CERTIFY that I am not a relative, employee, attorney, or counsel of any of the parties, nor am I a relative or counsel connected with the action, nor am I financiay interested in the action. DATED this 9th day of September, fyxflumfi K.g%uhcho MARCY K. GUTNCHO, RPR

28 28 ERRATA SHEET STATE V JOHN JONCHUCK Case NO: l5-oo6cfano Deposition of: Troy Harper Taken: October, 2017 Please read the transcript of your deposition and make note of any errors in the transcription on this page. DO NOT mark on the transcript itself. Please siqn and date this sheet and return to Morqan J. Morev & Associates, 333 Third Avenue North, Suite 5, St. Petersburq, FL within days. PAGE/LINE # ERROR/AMENDMENT REASON FOR CHANGE Under penalties of perjury, I declare that I have read my deposition and that it is true and correct subject to any Changes in form or substance entered here. SIGN/DATE MKG Phone: Fax: E mail: MoreyReporters@aol.com