Idaho officials pay $2.6M for wrongful convictions of 2 men

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho officials have approved payments of $1.4 million and $1.2 million, respectively, to two men who spent decades in prison for crimes they didn't commit.

Republican Gov. Brad Little and two other statewide-elected members of the Idaho Board of Examiners on Tuesday approved the payments to Charles Fain and Christopher Tapp.

Tapp was convicted of rape and murder in the 1990s, but released in 2017 and cleared by DNA evidence in 2019.

Fain was convicted of kidnapping, rape and murder in 1983, but DNA evidence cleared him and he was released in 2001.

Another man, Brian Dripps, was convicted after Tapp's release from prison.

A potential suspect was identified in Fain's case.