Idaho’s wrongfully convicted leave prison with nothing. This bill would offer compensation

Idaho is one of 15 states that does not provide any benefits or compensation to people wrongfully convicted of a crime.

A bill advanced by an Idaho House committee on Thursday could change this.

Sponsored by Rep. Doug Ricks, R-Rexburg, HB 384 would pay $60,000 per year of wrongful incarceration and $75,000 per year on death row. An exoneree also can seek non-monetary services including health insurance, medical expenses, counseling, job training, housing and tuition assistance.

The House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee voted unanimously to send Ricks’ bill to the House floor for consideration.

Rep. John McCrostie, D-Garden City, said it was “an honor” to make a motion to forward the bill to the House with a do-pass recommendation.

During the bill’s hearing on Tuesday, Ricks said four Idaho exonerees may qualify for the compensation.

The committee heard from two of them.

Combined, the two men spent nearly 40 years in prison for crimes they did not commit. Both men were released from prison with the clothes on their back and nothing else.

Charles Fain was released from prison in 2001 after spending 18 years on Idaho’s death row for the murder and sexual assault of a 9-year-old Nampa girl, Daralyn Johnson, in 1982. New DNA testing cleared Fain; the real murderer has not been apprehended. Fain was 34 years old when he was sent to prison and 52 years old when he was released.

Christopher Tapp was released from prison in 2017 after serving 20 years on an up-to-life sentence for aiding and abetting in the rape and murder of Angie Dodge in Idaho Falls in 1996. Tapp’s DNA never matched the crime-scene DNA. New DNA testing and research in 2019 identified Brian Dripps, of Caldwell, as the key suspect. Dripps confessed and is awaiting adjudication. Tapp was 20 years old when he was sent to prison and 40 years old when he was released.

“The worst day of my life was the day I got arrested for murdering a 9-year-old girl,” Fain told the committee.

“I never planned to die there,” said Fain, who was on death row where he spent 23 hours a day in a small cell. “I always planned to walk out, and I did.”

“We deserve to be compensated for our time,” Fain told the committee. “I put myself on your mercy and your compassion and pray you do the right thing.”

Tapp told the committee he could not put into words the feeling of finally proving his innocence after more than two decades in prison.

“Being in prison is as horrible as you can imagine,” Tapp said, adding that he missed out on 20 years of his life.

Being there when you are innocent is that much worse, he said.

“I strongly support this bill so that when an innocent person is exonerated in Idaho they have financial help to start rebuilding their lives as well as much needed help with housing therapy and education,” Tapp said.

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 4:29 PM.