BACKGROUND:
From an Idaho Press story by reporter Tommy Simmons which ran on May 24,
2019. For full background, including the incredible role played by Dr.
Greg Hampikian and his colleagues at the then fledgling Idaho Innocence
Project read the entire story at the link below: "Sometime
between 12:45 a.m. and 1:15 a.m. June 13, 1996, police believe, a man
broke into Angie Dodge’s apartment in Idaho Falls and fatally cut her
throat. There was also evidence he’d raped her. At
the time, officers hypothesized multiple people had been involved in
the crime, according to a recent statement from the Idaho Falls Police
Department. In January 1997, they began to believe Chris Tapp, then 20
years old, was one of them. Brian
Dripps lived across the street from Angie Dodge. He had told police
he’d been so drunk on the night of her murder he couldn’t remember any
of the people or vehicles he may have seen or interacted with, according
to an affidavit, but he was not investigated further. Police
kept investigating Tapp, even when they learned his DNA did not match
that found at the scene. They still believed he may have been involved
in the crime, because they thought it had been committed by multiple
people. Tapp confessed his involvement in January 1997 — a confession he
later tried to rescind and later said was coerced. Police asked him for
the names of other people who may have been involved. None of the
information he gave them led to any viable suspect, according to the
affidavit. With a withdrawn
confession and a lack of a DNA match, a Bonneville County jury in May
1998 convicted Tapp of the rape and murder of Dodge. A key witness in
the case against Tapp — who had been 18 years old at the time — recanted her testimony this week, claiming she, too, was coerced by police and fed information, according to the Post Register. In
December 1998, a judge sentenced Tapp to prison for 30 years to life
and ruled he would be eligible for parole after 20 years. The
Idaho Falls Police Department had never matched the DNA evidence taken
from Angie Dodge’s apartment on the night she died. All that officers
knew was that it did not belong to Tapp. About
12 to 13 years ago, an attorney working with a Boise State student on
another Idaho Innocence Project case suggested they look into Tapp's
case, Hampikian said. The Idaho Innocence Project was still in its
infancy and working on its first cases — that of Sarah Pearce, who was
convicted in a brutal attack of a Canyon County motorist and later
released after the project got involved. Tapp's case became the Idaho Innocence Project's second. None
of the DNA evidence in the case was tested at Boise State, for legal
reasons, Hampikian said, but the project worked with the Idaho Falls
Police Department nonetheless. The department contracted with a private
company, Parabon NanoLabs, ultimately using the genealogical techniques
project members told them about, in order to secure Dripps’ arrest. The
technique is a new one, and it's controversial, but it has been
effective at solving cold cases across the country. Hampikian said the
Idaho Falls Police Department was the first department to use it.
Scientists use the DNA evidence to build a profile of the suspect. They
then cross-reference that profile with other records, such as Census
data, vital data, newspaper archives, and information publicly available
through ancestry websites, according to the Idaho Falls Police
Department. Once they pinpoint a likely ancestor of the DNA sample's
owner, they build a family tree using more records. That, eventually,
creates a pool of suspects. After
that, police collected evidence "surreptitiously" — in this case, they
waited until Dripps tossed a cigarette out a car window, then tested the
DNA on the cigarette butt. It matched the DNA collected in 1996 from
Angie Dodge's apartment..................Meanwhile,
Tapp remained in prison. Back then, in Idaho, as long as they had an
“actual claim of innocence,” an inmate could ask for additional DNA
testing to help prove their innocence — but only if they did so within a
year of their conviction. Tapp
hadn’t done that, and since he started his sentence in 1998, forensic
DNA had evolved. Additionally, Idaho, alongside Mississippi, had some of
the most restrictive laws governing post-conviction DNA tests. Such
cases are why current Ada County Commissioner Rick Visser, who was then
serving as the Idaho Innocence Project’s legal director, wanted to
change the law......... Gov. Butch Otter signed it into law the first day it appeared on his desk. That law, Visser
said, “would open the door for Chris Tapp to make that claim (for DNA
testing) 17, 18 years after the murder.”..............Prosecutors
offered to reverse the rape charge against Tapp, because the DNA
evidence from the rape kit did not belong to him. They also asked the
judge to amend Tapp’s sentence to “time served” — meaning he’d served
the appropriate amount of time in prison — but they did not drop the
murder conviction.For a prisoner, being confronted with such a deal is “mind-blowing,” Hampikian said.At
the time prosecutors offered Tapp the deal, he had been in prison for
about two decades. Dripps had not been arrested, and there were no DNA
matches in the case. Tapp took
the deal and was released in March 2017.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY: "Hampikian says this bill would help the wrongfully convicted with securing housing and employment after release."Potential employers will check their records; their records aren't erased just because you're exonerated -- you have to petition for that, it takes time. They can't get housing. Nobody wants to rent to a convicted murderer or rapist, and all of that takes time to correct. The compensation gives them a chance to get their lives back on track," said Hampikian. Representative Doug Ricks (R-Rexburg) is sponsoring the bill, and Hampikian says hearings will commence next week. Last month, Tapp filed an intent to sue the Idaho Falls Police Department for reparations after his two decades in prison."
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STORY: "Wrongfully convicted would get compensation under new bill proposal," by reporter Madeline White, published by KIVI on January 29, 2020.
SUB-HEADING: "The Idaho Innocence Project is helping
lawmakers with a bill that would give financial compensation for those
who have been wrongfully convicted in Idaho."
GIST: "The Idaho Innocence Project is helping lawmakers with a bill that would give financial compensation for those who have been wrongfully convicted in Idaho.The bill was introduced in the legislature on Wednesday. Dr. Greg Hampikian, Boise State professor and co-director of the Idaho Innocence Project, says a wrongfully convicted person would receive $60,000 per year in compensation -- and $75,000 per year if they were previously on death row. He says compensation for the wrongfully convicted of federal crimes often amounts to about $50,000.The bipartisan bill is inspired by the case of Christopher Tapp, the Idaho falls man who spent more than 20 years in prison for the 1996 rape and murder of Angie Dodge -- but who was later exonerated and released due to DNA evidence that ruled him out. Idaho is one of just 15 states in the country that offers no compensation to the wrongfully convicted once they have been released. Hampikian says this bill would help the wrongfully convicted with securing housing and employment after release.
"Potential
employers will check their records; their records aren't erased just
because you're exonerated -- you have to petition for that, it takes
time. They can't get housing. Nobody wants to rent to a convicted
murderer or rapist, and all of that takes time to correct. The
compensation gives them a chance to get their lives back on track," said
Hampikian. Representative Doug Ricks (R-Rexburg) is sponsoring the bill, and Hampikian says hearings will commence next week. Last month, Tapp filed an intent to sue the Idaho Falls Police Department for reparations after his two decades in prison." The entire story can be read at:
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;
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FINAL WORD: (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases): "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."
Lawyer Radha Natarajan:
Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;
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