Former Rocky Ford police officer’s lawyers question victim’s autopsy report

Lawyers for a former Rocky Ford police officer charged with murder say the victim’s autopsy report contains inaccurate and incomplete information.

James Ashby, 32, is accused of second-degree murder in the on-duty shooting death of Jack Jacquez, 27, on Oct. 12 , 2014.

Ashby’s lawyer, Michael Lowe, argued during the start of a three-day motions trial that there’s no way to know the angle in which the fatal bullet entered Jacquez’s back because of omissions and inaccurate information from the forensic pathologist who led the autopsy, Dr. Daniel Lingamfelter of the El Paso County Coroner’s Office.

Lingamfelter admitted to the mistake, of not taking an accurate height measurement for Jacquez.

The defense called expert witness Dr. Michael Arnall, who works for the Adams County Coroner’s Office, to review Jacquez’s autopsy report.

Arnall said there was insufficient information to determine the angle in which the fatal bullet entered Jacquez’s back, in a case where “the angle appears to be a predicate for decision.”

Lingalmfelter, when he returned for questioning, said it’s not standard practice to take numbered, angle measurements.

Ashby’s defense team spent much of Wednesday trying to discredit the autopsy report. Investigators say, according to court records, that Jacquez was moving away from Ashby when he was shot.

Ashby told investigators Jacquez was going to hit him with a bat. Ashby pleaded not guilty to the murder back in February.

Jacquez’s dad, Jack Jacquez Sr., described the shooting and the last year without his son as traumatic. “I gotta live with this on a daily basis. This is not, ‘Well, I’ll worry about it next court date.’ I live with it every day.”

The trial is scheduled to begin in January.