Jul 14, 2026 · 38 min · 15 segments
Would this DNA, tucked away in storage for decades, finally lead police to an answer? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Maggie RulliHost
For years, Chris Tapp's appellate attorney, John Thomas, worked closely with Carol Dodge to overturn Chris's conviction.
But even as experts in false confessions and organizations like Judges for Justice and the Innocence Project joined their efforts, they still were not successful.
We filed, uh, five post-conviction, uh, petitions for post-conviction relief, and they were all always struck down, struck down, struck down.
The Bonneville County Prosecutor's Office also ordered an independent review of Chris's conviction.
It concluded that Chris was present when Angie was attacked and stabbed, but cast doubt on his confession regarding his personal involvement in her death.
He determined that the statements Chris's attorney said were coerced were similar to statements Chris made to acquaintances.
The question for me was whether there was new clear and convincing evidence of innocence.
There simply was not.
We had some concerns about the confession.
I had some concerns about the, the level of sentence as it related to Tapp's admitted involvement.
Chris Tapp is offered a deal where, uh, the rape charge is completely vacated, uh, so he's no longer a sex offender.
Uh, but the murder charge would stay in place.
Why would we make this deal, uh, knowing that Chris Tapp was an innocent man? And Chris and I talked about this, and we looked at each other, and we thought, we, we just didn't know what was gonna happen.
There was too much uncertainty.
In March 2017, Chris walked into the same courthouse where he had gone on trial as a young man.
This time, he was 40 years old, and there to formally accept his deal with the state.
For years, Chris Tapp's appellate attorney, John Thomas, worked closely with Carol Dodge to overturn Chris's conviction.
But even as experts in false confessions and organizations like Judges for Justice and the Innocence Project joined their efforts, they still were not successful.
We filed, uh, five post-conviction, uh, petitions for post-conviction relief, and they were all always struck down, struck down, struck down.
The Bonneville County Prosecutor's Office also ordered an independent review of Chris's conviction.
It concluded that Chris was present when Angie was attacked and stabbed, but cast doubt on his confession regarding his personal involvement in her death.
He determined that the statements Chris's attorney said were coerced were similar to statements Chris made to acquaintances.
The question for me was whether there was new clear and convincing evidence of innocence.
There simply was not.
We had some concerns about the confession.
I had some concerns about the, the level of sentence as it related to Tapp's admitted involvement.
Chris Tapp is offered a deal where, uh, the rape charge is completely vacated, uh, so he's no longer a sex offender.
Uh, but the murder charge would stay in place.
Why would we make this deal, uh, knowing that Chris Tapp was an innocent man? And Chris and I talked about this, and we looked at each other, and we thought, we, we just didn't know what was gonna happen.
There was too much uncertainty.
In March 2017, Chris walked into the same courthouse where he had gone on trial as a young man.
This time, he was 40 years old, and there to formally accept his deal with the state.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.