Networked Knowledge - Media Report

[This edited version of the report has been prepared by Dr Robert N Moles]

USA homepage
Identification Evidence homepage
Article: Australian law on miscarriages of justice
Article: UK law on miscarriages of justice
Article: USA law on miscarriages of justice

In June 2008 Maunette Loeks of The Star Herald reported “Convicted murderer [Jeff Boppre ] alleges misconduct”.

She said a Scottsbluff man serving a life sentence on murder charges has resurrected allegations of prosecutorial misconduct in court filings claiming his innocence. A jury convicted Jeff Boppre, 44, on two counts of first-degree murder in the Sept. 19, 1988, murders of Richard Valdez, 25, and his pregnant girlfriend, Sharon Condon, 19. Officers responding to the scene found letters "JFF BOPE" written in white grease on the floor next to Valdez's body. Since his conviction, Boppre has sought to overturn his conviction three times, saying he was framed in the two murders. Boppre has made three previous bids to have his case reconsidered, filing a motion for a new trial and two motions for post-conviction release. All three motions were denied and upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court in 1990, 1993 and 1997. Boppre even filed a petition in 1998, asking the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the case. The court dismissed the case. In the most recent filings in Scotts Bluff County District Court, Boppre filed motions for post-conviction relief and a motion for a new trial. Both filings were made on May 27.

Boppre and his defense attorney, Lawrence Whelan of Omaha, say they have new evidence in the case. In the filings, the defense contends that the prosecutors in the case, Doug Warner and Brian Silverman, withheld evidence from the case. Warner, a former Scotts Bluff County Attorney who currently serves with the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, has remained on the Boppre case since it began. He is serving as a special prosecutor on the case on behalf of the Scotts Bluff County Attorney's Office. Silverman now serves as a judge in the 12th Judicial District. In its filings, the defense contends that the prosecution withheld evidence that Condon's blood was found on a pair of jeans found in the trailer of Kenard Wasmer, a key witness in the case, and on a towel. Wasmer testified against Boppre in the case, saying he spoke about killing the couple.

In other court filings, the defense has tried to link the jeans to another prosecution witness, Alan Niemann, who testified during the Boppre trial that he waited in the car the night of the shooting and went inside the trailer after the couple had been shot. Both Wasmer and Niemann testified to traveling with Boppre to Arizona after the shooting. The defense also alleges that prosecutors withheld statements provided by then-high school student Melissa Moreno, now known as Melissa Archibeque. The defense says it has a sworn statement by Moreno that she was hiding underneath a bed during the shootings. According to the defense, a deposition from Moreno points to another person, a cousin of Condon's who is currently serving out a prison sentence in Colorado on felony charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and robbery, as being at the home during the shooting. The defense claims the cousin had been selling drugs for Valdez, had quarreled with Valdez on the night of the shooting and had even been jealous because he wanted a relationship with Condon. Moreno has also said that the cousin and Niemann were friends, and she had seen the two men come to Valdez's home on the night of the shootings. She says both men knew that Valdez possessed a gun.

The defense also contends that the prosecution withheld evidence and other witnesses that it says can verify Moreno's story. The defense used statements by Moreno in a second appeal seeking a new trial, which the Nebraska Supreme Court denied in 1993. Friends of Moreno's had told investigators that she claimed to have been at the Valdez's home during the killings; however, Moreno told officers that she had made up the entire story, according to court documents. The appeal court ruled that even if Moreno's statements had been true and weren't recanted, she would not have been in a position to see whether or not Boppre was at the scene or shot the victims.

The recent filings are also not the first time Boppre or others have alleged prosecutorial misconduct. In 1993, a grand jury examined the case for alleged misconduct after Boppre supporters spearheaded a petition drive. The grand jury found no wrongdoing on behalf of the prosecution or investigators. The defense has also made misconduct claims in previous appeals. The defense also filed a request seeking to remove Warner from the case, alleging that he and Silverman knowingly withheld evidence and submitted the "perjured" testimony of Niemann and Wasmer pointing to Boppre as the alleged killer.

A hearing on a motion seeking review of DNA testing on the jeans found in Wasmer's trailer and other evidence is scheduled to be heard on Aug. 5. A motion seeking DNA testing of evidence had been filed in accordance with a 2005 state law that allows defendants to seek additional DNA tests if it could produce evidence that a person was wrongfully convicted of a crime. In that motion, Boppre claims that the jeans were too large to fit him and belonged to Wasmer. He alleges in that motion that Wasmer committed the murders. Scotts Bluff County Attorney Derek Weimer said that District Judge Randall Lippstreu would also hear the motion seeking to remove Warner from the case following that hearing. Lippstreu indicated during a teleconference held with the defense and prosecution that all motions would be considered in the order they were filed, Weimer said.

Top of Page