Chris Tapp; Idaho; Former Superior Court Judge Mike Heavey submits an initial response to a recent report on the conviction of Chris Tapp for the 1996 murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. That report, written by Twin Falls private investigator Stuart Robinson, doesn’t point to any reliable evidence that Tapp had participated in the murder, though he did conclude that Tapp must have witnessed the act........."Heavey’s six-page response argues Robinson’s report contains “many factual errors, partial representations of facts, concerning omissions and erroneous conclusions.” It also notes that former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steve Moore is preparing a more detailed response, which will be submitted within one month." Reporter Bryan Clark; The Post Register;

STORY: "Judges for Justice responds to Robinson report," by reporter Bryan Clark, published by The Post Register on September 14, 2016.

GIST: "Former King County, Wash., Superior Court Judge Mike Heavey, co-founder of Judges for Justice, has submitted an initial response to a recent report on the conviction of Chris Tapp for the 1996 murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. That report, written by Twin Falls private investigator Stuart Robinson, doesn’t point to any reliable evidence that Tapp had participated in the murder, though he did conclude that Tapp must have witnessed the act..........Heavey’s six-page response argues Robinson’s report contains “many factual errors, partial representations of facts, concerning omissions and erroneous conclusions.” It also notes that former FBI Supervisory Special Agent Steve Moore is preparing a more detailed response, which will be submitted within one month. “It’s not surprising that Mr. Heavey disagrees with some of Mr. Robinson’s conclusions,” Bonneville County Prosecutor Danny Clark said. In 2014 Moore wrote a scathing 85-page critique of the Idaho Falls Police Department’s investigative work in the case. It found that Tapp’s confession is demonstrably false. Through Judges for Justice, Heavey and Moore were both involved in efforts to free Amanda Knox. In an email, Robinson said he would not comment on the response until the more-detailed report is submitted. Robinson’s report doesn’t spell out clearly which pieces of evidence lead him to the conclusion that Tapp witnessed the murder, but Heavey’s response addresses two of Robinson’s arguments. The first is that when Tapp was questioned by then-Detective Jared Fuhriman, he did not directly deny involvement, as Robinson believes an innocent person would do. Heavey argues that Fuhriman, who Robinson’s report suggests gave untruthful testimony during the trial, “did not directly accuse Tapp of involvement that might elicit a denial. Fuhriman tried to build trust with Tapp and was trying the get Tapp to implicate Ben Hobbs in the murder.” Heavey further points out eight times in the first interview with Fuhriman in which Tapp denies having any knowledge about the murder. Robinson’s other argument is that Tapp said that Dodge was wearing a T-shirt and sweatpants. While Robinson found that the rest of the information in Tapp’s confession was fed to him during police interviews, he found no place where they had told Tapp what she was wearing. Heavey pointed out that Robinson had misquoted Tapp’s statement, and he points out that Tapp was wrong about the color of both the shirt and the sweatpants. Robinson also pointed out that Tapp made the statement: “Like her sweats were half on. One leg was (unintelligible).” He concluded that this meant Tapp knew Angie’s sweat pants were pulled down slightly more on one side than the other. Moore previously drew the opposite conclusion, that Tapp was indicating that one leg of Dodge’s sweat pants had been pulled off entirely. Heavey also pointed out that Tapp was wrong about the position of Dodge’s shirt..........Bonneville County prosecutors previously said they haven’t come to conclusions about the report, and they are awaiting feedback from the Idaho Falls Police Department, Judges for Justice and Tapp’s defense attorney."

The entire story can be found at:

http://www.postregister.com/articles/news-daily-email-todays-headlines/2016/09/14/judges-justice-responds-robinson-report#

PUBLISHER'S NOTE:  I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:  http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html  Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  
Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.