QUOTES OF THE DAY:
“I think the prosecutor could drop the murder charge, because Christopher had nothing to do with murdering Angie Dodge. He will still be convicted as a murderer, and he won’t be able to find a job with that on his record.”
VERA TAPP; (Chris Tapp's mother);
“Chris spent 20 years of his life convicted on a lie, and now he’s being released to live the rest of his life as a lie because people who have power can justify this. They could care less what happens to Chris. All they cared about was having no liability.” (Dodge said she’s also worried that her daughter’s murder will be forgotten, that the pressure to solve the case could dissipate. The man who killed Angie on a hot summer night more than 20 years ago is out there somewhere. And she wants him brought to justice.)
CAROL DODGE; (Angie Dodd's mother);
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"A deal has been reached in the Chris Tapp case that is
expected to make him a free man Wednesday. He has spent just under half
of his life in a prison cell. Lawyers for both the
prosecution and the defense confirmed the existence of the deal to the
Post Register on Monday evening. Judge Alan Stephens must approve the
deal. “Chris Tapp has entered into a negotiated deal with
the prosecuting attorney wherein he’ll give up his right to
post-conviction proceedings, and if the judge accepts the deal, he will
be a free man on Wednesday,” said Public Defender John Thomas, Tapp’s
attorney in several post-conviction relief actions. Thomas
also said Tapp won’t admit guilt as a part of the deal. He said he
couldn’t disclose the full terms of the deal. Deputy Prosecutor John
Dewey confirmed that a deal had been reached but declined to comment
further. Both sides are expected to meet with Stephens Tuesday, and a hearing will be held Wednesday at 11 a.m. Tapp
has spent 20 years in prison for the 1996 murder of 18-year-old Angie
Dodge. He was sentenced to life in prison, and he wasn’t due for his
first parole hearing for 10 more years. Tapp was
convicted because he confessed. But in recent years a slew of reports
from false confession experts, geneticists, polygraph experts and former
FBI supervisory special agents have concluded that Tapp’s confession
was false, that the details were fed to him by police and that he was
coerced with threats of the gas chamber if he didn’t cooperate. Judges
for Justice, the Center for Wrongful Convictions, the Idaho Innocence
Project and the New York Innocence Project all worked with Thomas and
others to overturn Tapp’s conviction. The deal doesn’t mean that Tapp’s
conviction will be vacated, however. There are many
samples of DNA that were left at the crime scene, all of which so far
point to one man. That man’s identity remains unknown, but it isn’t
Tapp. In Tapp’s confession, he implicated another man
named Ben Hobbs in the crime. Prosecutor Danny Clark said previously
that there isn’t any evidence apart from Tapp’s confession that Hobbs
was involved, and Tapp’s confession is insufficient to charge Hobbs. Nor
has there been evidence to charge the numerous other people Tapp
implicated in the crime during the course of his confessions.........For the two
women at the heart of the case — Carol Dodge, Angie’s mother, and Vera
Tapp, Chris’ mother — the news of the deal was bittersweet. Vera
said she looks forward to Chris coming home a free man. But she wishes
prosecutors would exonerate him fully of the murder charge. “I
think the prosecutor could drop the murder charge, because Christopher
had nothing to do with murdering Angie Dodge,” Vera Tapp said. “He will
still be convicted as a murderer, and he won’t be able to find a job
with that on his record.” And Carol Dodge said she is “heartbroken” over the deal. “Chris
spent 20 years of his life convicted on a lie, and now he’s being
released to live the rest of his life as a lie because people who have
power can justify this,” Dodge said. “They could care less what happens
to Chris. All they cared about was having no liability.” Dodge
said she’s also worried that her daughter’s murder will be forgotten,
that the pressure to solve the case could dissipate. The man who killed
Angie on a hot summer night more than 20 years ago is out there
somewhere. And she wants him brought to justice."
