An Allegheny County assistant district attorney and a uniformed Pittsburgh police officer posed, smiling and toting large guns that were evidence in a case they worked on together, in a Facebook photo with the caption, “You should take the plea.”

Pittsburgh police command staff and the district attorney’s office, which said the assistant district attorney’s “conduct is contrary to office protocol with respect to the handling of evidence,” were looking into the matter, officials of the offices said.

It appears to have been posted at 6:47 p.m. Thursday on the Facebook page of Officer Garrett Bickmore.

In the picture, he is in uniform and holding a Colt AR-15 assault-style rifle, with what appears to be an evidence tag hanging from it; assistant district attorney Julie Jones has on a skirt suit and is holding a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun, also with a tag.

The guns were evidence in a case that the two had worked on together, the Allegheny County district attorney’s office confirmed Friday.

That nonjury trial — in which Ms. Jones was the prosecutor and Officer Bickmore was a lead investigator in the case — concluded Thursday with Michael Jetter, 34, of Highland Park, pleading guilty to gun and drug violations. He was sentenced to three years of probation.

Ms. Jones declined to comment on the photo, and Officer Bickmore could not be reached.

Ms. Jones was tagged in the photo, and it appeared to still be live on her Facebook wall Friday. On that Facebook page, Ms. Jones identified herself as an assistant district attorney.

Approached by a reporter Friday morning, she briefly smiled, laughed and said, “We actually ...” She did not complete her thought before saying, “I have to go to an appointment,” and walking away.

“The assistant district attorney’s conduct is contrary to office protocol with respect to the handling of evidence,” said Mike Manko, spokesman for the district attorney’s office. “Moving forward, her appearance in this photo is now a personnel matter.”

Pittsburgh public safety spokeswoman Sonya Toler confirmed that the officer works in Zone 5, which encompasses eastern neighborhoods, including Homewood, Larimer and Lincoln-Lemington.

“We were not aware of this photo,” she said. “We don't necessarily monitor the activity of all our employees.”

Command staff are reviewing the image.

“They are discussing it,” she said.

City Detective Jim Glick, vice president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 1, declined to comment on behalf of the union.

According to the criminal complaint in Jetter's case, police responded June 9, 2014, to his home in the 5700 block of Jackson Street after a passenger in a passing vehicle fired seven or eight shots at him as he sat in his car.

“I grabbed my gun and started shooting back,” Jetter told police. He obliged when police asked to enter his apartment to retrieve the gun he used.

Police wrote that they observed hundreds of plastic bags inside as well as two handguns and the AR-15 that Officer Bickmore was holding in the photo.

Jetter told police he used a Glock handgun to fire at the Lexus and that he sold marijuana to make extra money. He consented to a search of his apartment, where police also discovered the shotgun that Ms. Jones is seen holding in the Facebook photo.

Jetter was charged with possessing instruments of a crime “for using the cache of firearms to further his drug-dealing operation,” police wrote.

Jetter did not have a license to carry a concealed firearm, police said. He was charged with two misdemeanor gun violations, a felony drug charge and two misdemeanor drug counts.

Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani oversaw the trial, which began as a non-jury case Wednesday, but ended when Jetter pleaded guilty Thursday, court records show.

Officer Bickmore appears to have posted the photo after Jetter’s plea and sentencing occurred.

First Published: July 31, 2015, 5:16 p.m.
Updated: August 1, 2015, 3:20 a.m.