Mayor apologizes as Chris Tapp, city of Idaho Falls settle lawsuit for $11.7 million – East Idaho News

IDAHO FALLS — Christopher Tapp and town of Idaho Falls agreed to settle a lawsuit Thursday for $11.7 million.

Tapp was wrongfully convicted in 1997 for the rape and homicide of 18-year-old Angie Dodge. He tried a number of occasions to enchantment the conviction and his DNA didn’t match DNA on the crime scene.

Tapp was finally launched from jail in 2017 and exonerated in 2019 when investigators arrested 54-year-old Brian Dripps. Dripps finally pleaded responsible and was sentenced 20 years to life in jail in 2021.

“No greenback quantity may ever make up for the over 20 years of my life I spent in jail for crimes I didn’t commit. Nonetheless, the settlement will assist me transfer ahead with my life,” Tapp stated in an announcement Thursday night time.

FIND COMPLETE COVERAGE OF THE ANGIE DODGE CASE HERE

The settlement gives that town of Idaho Falls talk about potential reforms to its interrogation strategies with main consultants on the topic, in response to a information launch from Neufeld Scheck & Brustin, Tapp’s attorneys.

Tapp sued town of Idaho Falls and the Idaho Falls Police Division in federal court docket in October 2020. Town requested a choose to dismiss the lawsuit however finally the Idaho Falls Metropolis Council permitted the settlement Thursday.

“Chris Tapp’s wrongful conviction by no means ought to have occurred; DNA cleared him over 20 years in the past,” stated Anna Benvenutti Hoffmann of Neufeld Scheck & Brustin. “We hope this settlement is a wake-up name to the various police departments nonetheless utilizing the identical practices of mendacity, deception, and coercion as Idaho Falls did — and that it nonetheless must reform — in order that different innocents don’t endure like Chris Tapp has.”

Mayor Rebecca Casper apologized to Tapp and his mom in a letter and promised town will do higher shifting ahead.

“Please settle for this honest apology to you and to your mom, Mrs. Tapp, for town’s position in your wrongful conviction and subsequent incarceration, as nicely the hurt and damages that you just and your loved ones have endured over these a few years,” Casper wrote. “We on the metropolis of Idaho Falls hope that the decision of your civil case and this honest expression of an apology assist carry therapeutic and closure to each Mrs. Tapp and to you. Along with the settlement, town pledges to evaluation its insurance policies, procedures, and coaching (particularly associated to custodial interrogations) and to revise them, as wanted, to stop any recurrence of what occurred in your case.”