STORY: "New appeal filed for Tapp," by reporter Bryan Clark, published by The Post Register on May 12, 2016;
GIST: "Public defender John Thomas has filed another petition to fight the conviction of Chris Tapp.
Tapp has served nearly half his life in jail or prison after being convicted of the 1996 rape and murder of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. Tapp was convicted because he confessed. But a slew of wrongful conviction organizations and experts have subsequently issued reports finding Tapp was wrongfully convicted. The reports suggest the Idaho Falls Police Department botched the investigation and coerced Tapp into confessing with threats of the gas chamber and promises of immunity in return for cooperation. DNA evidence from the crime scene has been preserved and tested, but none of it has matched Tapp. All of the DNA discovered so far points to one man, whose identity is unknown. The new filing argues that Tapp should be given a new trial because the prosecutors didn’t turn over some evidence that tends to show Tapp is innocent. Specifically, the filing alleges that videos of three polygraph sessions were never turned over to Tapp’s defense. Thomas argues that the videos could have convinced the jury Tapp is innocent because they show threats from police, along with suggestions that Tapp may have repressed his memory of the crime but that the polygraph machine “never lies,” as Det. Jared Fuhriman told him. “If I was there, I would remember it wouldn’t I?” Tapp asks interrogators in one of the videos. Thomas’ filing does not allege that prosecutors intentionally withheld evidence. Instead, he believes that they were not aware the videos existed. But Thomas argues prosecutors had a duty to find out about the tapes and then turn them over. ........The new filing is accompanied by an affidavit from Dr. Charles Honts, a psychology professor and polygraph expert from Boise State University who previously authored a report accusing polygraph examiners of using the machine as a “psychological rubber hose.” “Chris Tapp was never given a real polygraph examination,” the affidavit states. “… The sham polygraph examinations used in this way were psychologically coercive in the extreme.”.........Thomas currently has another petition pending which seeks to have more crime scene evidence tested in an effort to prove Tapp wasn’t there. Thomas said he believes swabs taken of Angie’s hands are being tested by a DNA lab now. “I know without a shadow of a doubt that he was not there,” Thomas said. “His DNA is not going to come back on her hands.” The case is also subject to an outside investigation commissioned by the prosecution, which is being performed by Twin Falls private investigator Stuart Robinson.
The entire story can be found at:
http://www.postregister.com/articles/news-daily-email-todays-headlines-west/2016/05/12/new-appeal-filed-tapp#
Access the petition at the link below:
http://www.localnews8.com/blob/view/-/39544644/data/1/-/s43g56z/-/Christopher-Tapp-s-fourth-post-conviction-petition.pdf
See News8 story 'Making a murderer lawyer weighs in on Chris Tapp case' at the link below;
"Millions of Americans following the popular Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer," and one of the attorneys who appeared in the show is weighing in on 1996 murder of Angie Dodge. Steve Drizin wrote a report on the why he thinks the tactics interrogators used on Chris Tapp, who was convicted of Dodge's murder, were coercive. "This is the most contaminated and one of the most coerced confessions I have seen in almost 20 years of doing this work," he said. That's including his work with the Brenden Dassey case, which is part of 'Making A Murderer." The series raises questions about the evidence used to convict Steven Avery and Brenden Dassey in the murder of Teresa Halbach. For example, it suggests Dassey's confession may have been coerced. "The help theme. We'll go to bat for you, we're in your corner, if you just involve yourself a little bit in the crime," Drizin said. "You'll be OK." It was something he saw in Dassey's and Tapp's cases. "Almost the exact same words. You can transpose sentences from Brendan's interrogations and put them right in Chris Tapp's interrogation," he said. "Brendan's is actually less coercive than Chris' in many ways." He said that's for a few reasons: Dassey's interrogation only lasted hours, while Tapp's was over a period of nine days. Drizin also said there were far fewer direct threats and promises of leniency made. "They tortured him [Tapp] psychologically," he said.
http://www.localnews8.com/news/making-a-murderer-attorney-weighs-in-on-chris-tapp-case/37761908
See Judges for Justice post at the link below:
"Judges for Justice" became involved in Christopher Tapp's case in 2012 when Judge Heavey contacted the victim's mother Carol Dodge. ........Carol Dodge, the victim's mother, desperately wants to find her daughter's killer. To that end Carol compiled all of the case's interrogation videos to see what she could learn, maybe, see a clue in the videos the police had missed. What she learned, when all was said and done, is that Tapp's confession was dubious. She saw, time after time, the police planting crime scene information in Tapp's mind, the police coercing Tapp, and encouraging him to lie."
http://judgesforjustice.org/J4J_ChrisTapp.htm
PUBLISHER'S NOTE:
I have added a search box for content in this blog which now encompasses several thousand posts. The search box is located near the bottom of the screen just above the list of links. I am confident that this powerful search tool provided by "Blogger" will help our readers and myself get more out of the site.
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/
Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at:
http://smithforensic.blogspot.
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;