BACKGROUND: (December 8, 2023): The Innocence Project: "Remembering Chris Tapp: Beloved Innocence Project Client; The first person in the world to be exonerated with genetic genealogy." SUB-HEADING: "Mr. Tapp is remembered as a caring son, friend to many, and a tireless advocate on behalf of others wrongly convicted." By Peter Neufeld and Vanessa Potkin;
"We are deeply saddened to share news of the passing of beloved Innocence Project and Idaho Innocence Project client Christopher Tapp, 47, on Nov. 5 in Las Vegas. After an accidental fall on Oct. 29 caused serious and irreversible head injuries, Mr. Tapp was rushed to a hospital, where after a week of heroic efforts to save him, he nonetheless died. He is survived by his mother Vera, who stood resolutely by her son from the moment he was falsely charged 27 years ago until his untimely death this week. Vera took out a second mortgage to pay for several unsuccessful appeals and worked a second job well past retirement age to ensure there were funds in Mr. Tapp’s commissary for the 21 years he was incarcerated. Mr. Tapp was officially exonerated in 2019, the first person in the world to be proven innocent with genetic genealogy. There are so many egregious things about what he endured — he was just a teen when a young woman in his town of Idaho Falls was murdered in 1996, and unable to solve the case and acting off an unfounded hunch, police preyed upon him in their effort to close the case. They interrogated Mr. Tapp abusively for 60 hours over the course of two weeks — manipulating him, using fake polygraphs and threatening him with the death penalty. Although it was obvious that the young woman was attacked and killed by a single assailant and the DNA excluded Mr. Tapp from the start showing his innocence, the police concocted new and different theories to make Mr. Tapp an accomplice to the unidentified man who left his DNA all over the crime scene. But each fictitious police theory, DNA testing of everyone, with whom the detectives imagined he may have acted with, resulted in their exclusions. In the end, none of the science or physical evidence mattered to the police. All they cared about was closing a high profile murder that had gone unsolved for more than seven months. Mr. Tapp’s prosecution and conviction relied almost exclusively on the tortured, fabricated and false confession. Many in the community knew Mr. Tapp was innocent. Even the victim’s mother, Carole Dodge, ultimately came to believe the confessions were coerced and invented by police. For years, she joined in advocating for Mr. Tapp’s release and for additional investigation to identify the actual assailant. Ultimately, the biology left by the unidentified perpetrator was submitted for genetic genealogy testing. Using an ancestry database, third cousins were identified, a family tree was constructed and the man who had sexually assaulted and murdered the young woman was identified. He was apprehended and pleaded guilty. The person who committed the crime actually lived across the street from the victim and police had spoken to him right after the crime. On the day of his exoneration Mr. Tapp wore a shirt that said “INNOCENT” and the courtroom was packed with friends and supporters with shirts that said “WE TOLD YOU SO!” Despite all the cruelty and injustice he was forced to endure and being locked up as a child and growing up in prison, Mr. Tapp emerged from the experience the most genuine and loving person you could meet. He radiated positivity. He wanted good things for all those around him, and joined forces with Beth Powers and Rebecca Brown of the Innocence Project policy department, the Idaho Innocence Project, and other activists in Idaho, working, lobbying, and fighting, successfully, to get a compensation law passed. In addition, Mr. Tapp testified before various legislative committees in multiple states as part of the Innocence Project’s campaign to prohibit the use of deception during police interrogation. He was always ready to answer the call to speak out and wanted very much to join the Innocence Project Exoneree Council and lend his experience, perspective and wisdom to others and to continue his advocacy hand in hand with us. Once Mr. Tapp secured a settlement in his civil rights lawsuit against the Idaho Falls Police and an apology from the city, his generosity helped many of his childhood friends and others who had stood by him. Mr. Tapp was his mother’s only son and a beloved member of our Innocence Project family. It is hard to capture the enormity of our loss."
https://innocenceproject.org/remembering-christopher-tapp-beloved-innocence-project-client-the-first-person-in-the-world-to-be-exonerated-with-genetic-genealogy/
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STORY: "Christopher Tapp's death is being investigated as homicide," published by Local News 8, on January 10, 2024.
GIST: "The family of Christopher Tapp was surprised to learn his death is being investigated as a murder.
The family told Local News 8 they were not aware of the investigation before the police department released the information Wednesday.
Tapp spent more than 20 years in jail for a wrongful murder conviction. Tapp was fully exonerated of the crime in 2019. He was awarded $11.7 million as part of a settlement with law enforcement for his wrong conviction.
Tapp died October 29, 2023 in Las Vegas. It was first reported he died after he slipped on a shoe and hit his head on a table.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police reported Wednesday the homicide unit was made aware of the death on November 23, 2023. They said he was involved in a fight in a room at Las Vegas resort before he died. They determined his death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head and are calling it a homicide.
Athena Jenkins said, "We truly appreciate all the love and support that we have received and continue to receive as everyone progresses this horrible tragedy."
His wife, Stacy, passed away just 3 months before his death.
LAS VEGAS (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department media release) - On November 22, 2023, LVMPD Homicide was made aware of a suspicious death that occurred October 29, 2023, in the 3000 block of South Las Vegas Boulevard.
Through the course of the suspicious death investigation, LVMPD Homicide Detectives have learned Tapp was in an altercation inside a room at a resort before being located and transported to the hospital.
The Clark County Coroner’s Office has since ruled Tapp’s death a homicide as a result of blunt force trauma to the head.
Anyone with any information about this incident is urged to contact the LVMPD Homicide Section by phone at 702-828-3521, or by email at homicide@lvmpd.com. To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers by phone at 702-385-5555, or on the internet at www.crimestoppersofnv.com."
The entire story can be read at:
christopher-tapps-death-is-being-investigated-as-a-homicide
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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue/resource. 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;
SEE BREAKDOWN OF SOME OF THE ON-GOING INTERNATIONAL CASES (OUTSIDE OF THE CONTINENTAL USA) THAT I AM FOLLOWING ON THIS BLOG, AT THE LINK BELOW: HL
https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/120008354894645705/47049136857587929
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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FINAL, FINAL WORD: "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions. They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they've exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!
Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;
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YET ANOTHER FINAL WORD:
David Hammond, one of Broadwater’s attorneys who sought his exoneration, told the Syracuse Post-Standard, “Sprinkle some junk science onto a faulty identification, and it’s the perfect recipe for a wrongful conviction.
https://deadline.com/2021/11/alice-sebold-lucky-rape-conviction-overturned-anthony-broadwater-123488014
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