https://www.eastidahonews.com/2021/01/bill-to-compensate-the-wrongfully-convicted-in-idaho-sent-to-senate-floor/BOISE — A bill intended to compensate Idaho’s wrongfully convicted will now go to the Senate floor.
The Senate Judiciary and Rules committee unanimously voted to send the bill to the full Senate with a “do pass†recommendation. A similar bill failed in 2020 and Sen. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, hopes to pass the legislation with modifications he says should satisfy Gov. Brad Little.
“When I heard the bill had been vetoed, I was heartbroken,†Chris Tapp told the committee. “I thought of Charles Fain – another exoneree of Idaho who’s in his 70s and continues to support himself after 18 years on death row for a horrible crime he didn’t commit.â€
Tapp spent a significant portion of his life behind bars after a jury convicted him for the 1996 rape and murder of Angie Dodge in Idaho Falls. In 2017, Tapp was released and two years later, he was exonerated after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime and was linked to another man.