Background
Summary
Jeff Boppre was wrongfully convicted of a double murder on March 15, 1989, in Scottsbluff County, Nebraska; however, it wasn't until 2002 that he discovered that prosecutors withheld significant exculpatory evidence - supporting his ongoing claim that he was a victim of a miscarriage of justice. Based on that evidence, Jeff is preparing for an important appeal to the Nebraska Supreme Court, in which he will ask the court to quash his conviction and/or order a new trial.
Chronology
(a) September 19th, 1988 - The Tragedy:
At approximately 11:30 a.m. on September 19th, 1988, Richard G. Valdez and Sharon I. Condon were found shot to death in a residence located about a mile north of the city of Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Mr. Valedz was discovered on the floor in the kitchen of the residence, while Ms Condon was discovered on a bed in an adjacent bedroom. Several 32 calibre casings and bullets were found near both bodies.
Upon hearing - in a telephone call - about the murders and that a warrant had been issued for his arrest, Jeff Boppre voluntarily returned from an excursion to Arizona on September 22, 1988. According to 'best policing practices,' a decision to swear out a warrant and then arrest an accused, should be founded upon a theory reached after an evaluation of the crime scene and interviewing witnesses. However, the evidence in Jeff's case tends to show that, once the police developed their theory, only evidence that supported that theory was considered valuable - the rest ignored or dismissed as being of no value. Evidence of this can be found in the video shot by the police during their investigation of the crime scene [see the VIDEO (click here) - warning graphic content]. When viewed against the witness statements and the unrevealed evidence, it is as though they were attempting to make the facts fit the theory they developed.
In his statement to police, Jeff stated that he had spent the evening of September 18th in the company of friends Alan Niemann and Ken Wasmer; using cocaine at the trailer home shared by Niemann and Wasmer. Boppre had made several trips over the course of the evening to Valdez's house to get drugs. Later in the evening, the three men discussed going
to Arizona that night. They had in the past discussed driving to Arizona to sell drugs, and
the three drove to Arizona in the early hours of September 19th. While in Arizona, Boppre telephoned home and learned of the murders and that he was wanted in connection with them.
Jeff promptly returned to Scottsbluff where Boppre was arrested.
The bodies of Richard Valdez and Sharon Condon were discovered the morning of September 19th. At the scene, the letters "JFF BOPE" were found written in white grease on the floor next to Valdez's body. White grease was found on two fingers of Valdez's right hand and a tube of grease was found under his body. "JEFF" was written in what appeared to be blood on the doorframe near Valdez's head. These writings were introduced in evidence as "dying declarations" against Jeff. A pair of pants with blood and grease on them was found at the trailer home belonging to Niemann and Wasmer.