STORY: "Judges for Justice responds to Tapp report," by reporter Bryan Clark, published by The Post Register on October 24, 2016.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Christopher Tapp reacts to his guilty verdict during his 1998 trial. Tapp was sentenced to 30 years for the 1996 murder of Angie Dodge."
GIST: "Wrongful conviction group Judges for Justice has issued a scathing response to Twin Falls private investigator Stuart Robinson’s review of the conviction of Chris Tapp. “While the Robinson Report cannot ignore the obviously corrupt nature of any ‘confession’ by Christopher Tapp, Robinson fails in any way to comprehend the truth of the Angie Dodge murder,” the group wrote. “Instead, (Robinson’s) report is based almost completely on conjecture and invalid premises.”Tapp is serving 30 years to life in prison for the 1996 murder of 18-year-old Dodge. He was convicted on the basis of his confession to participating in the crime. A slew of reports from former FBI supervisory special agents, wrongful conviction experts, polygraph experts and others in recent years have found that Tapp’s was a false confession made under police coercion. The first round of wrongful conviction reports caused then-Prosecutor Bruce Pickett to ask the Bonneville County Commission for $25,000 to hire an outside expert to review the case. After 15 months, and with a $36,000 final price tag, Robinson’s report was released last month. The report found, similar to reports from outside experts, that detectives broke with sound investigative procedure by feeding Tapp virtually all of the details of the crime that wound up in his final confession. Normally, investigators hold back nonpublic details of a crime so that a confession can be verified when a suspect gives them information only the killer could know. “Statements made by Tapp of his personal involvement in the death of Angie are either tainted, questionable or unlikely,” Robinson wrote. The prosecution-commissioned report also indicated that former Detective Jared Fuhriman, who later served as mayor of Idaho Falls, gave untruthful testimony when he told jurors Tapp had volunteered information only the killer could know. But Robinson, unlike other outside experts, concluded that Tapp must have been a witness to the crime. He didn’t point to many specific pieces of evidence which led him to that conclusion, saying instead it was based on his overall impression. “While dismissing Tapp’s statements as ‘unreliable, tainted’ and ‘unlikely,’ Robinson inexplicably uses those very same statements to attempt to prove Tapp’s presence at the murder scene,” Judges for Justice wrote.........Judges for Justice also criticized Robinson for assuming Ben Hobbs, a man who has never been charged in the crime, is guilty of participating in it. Hobbs was an initial suspect in the crime, and Tapp was pressured to (and eventually did) implicate him in the crime. Neither Hobbs’ nor Tapp’s DNA matches semen, skin cells and other DNA samples left at the crime scene. “Robinson’s mistaken belief that Tapp was present at the murder scene was based on a false premise, conjecture and inaccurate information, and his report was ultimately unable to authoritatively refute a single conclusion regarding the innocence of Christopher Tapp,” Judges for Justice wrote. The response calls on Prosecutor Danny Clark to immediately move for Tapp’s release, citing a portion of the Idaho Rules of Criminal Procedure: “When a prosecutor knows of clear and convincing evidence establishing that the defendant in the prosecutor’s jurisdiction was convicted of an offense that the defendant did not commit, the prosecutor shall seek to remedy the conviction.”.........The report also calls on the Idaho Falls Police Department to solve the crime. “There is but one way to solve this murder, and bring the actual killer of Angie Dodge to justice: Find the DNA match. Continuing to waste time and resources defending a bad conviction distracts from that goal, and is an affront to the public interest.”
The entire post can be found at:
http://www.postregister.com/articles/chris-tapp-coverage-featured-news/2016/10/24/judges-justice-responds-tapp-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/
Harold Levy. Publisher; The Charles Smith Blog.
