UPDATE: Maricopa County Attorney’s Office dismisses cases against Phoenix police officers Logan Egnor and Chris Tiona “in the interests of justice.”
PHOENIX - The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has decided not to prosecute two Phoenix police officers accused of lying about giving medical aid to a homeless woman they pepper sprayed last year. The decision comes despite the fact that the MCAO took it to a grand jury, which returned an indictment against the men and both were formally charged and arraigned. Clearly the process was well underway with pre-trial conferences and comprehensive trial conferences already scheduled to begin in January 2017.
Officers Chris Tiona and Logan Egnor told investigators that they had pepper sprayed an aggressive homeless woman in May of 2015 and stayed with her to treat her, but data from their vehicle locator and footage from their body cameras bring the medical aid into question.
Both officers were indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury on October 25, on one felony count each for tampering with a public record. The indictment alleged Tiona and Egnor knowingly, with the intent to defraud or deceive made false written reports following the May 24, 2015 encounter with the homeless woman.
The footage also brings up the question of whether the pepper spray was necessary, as well as their characterization of the woman's aggressive behavior.
So why, then, did the prosecutor Ed Leiter change his mind? The State's motion to dismiss reflecting the decision to toss out the case has not yet been released, but MCAO spokesperson Amanda Jacinto released this statement to 12 News:
“Upon further review it was determined that based on the facts of the case the office declined prosecution as there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction.”
Last week, 12 News reported that Tiona and Egnor were back under investigation by Phoenix PD. They previously served 240-hour unpaid suspensions of their peace officer certification after entering into consent agreements with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board, which certifies all police officers in the state.
Phoenix Police Department spokesman Sgt. Jonathan Howard said the department would continue its internal investigation and the officers would remain on administrative leave.
Bob Kavanagh, attorney for officer Tiona, acknowledged the State filed a motion to dismiss the case against his client. He went on to say that he has not seen an order from the judge granting the State's motion. Kavanagh tells 12 News, "I will not be commenting further."
We also contacted attorney Jess Lorona, who is defending Egnor. He did not appear to know the prosecutor moved to dismiss the case against his client but said he was going to find out. We have not yet heard back from Lorona.