Dayna L. Christoph

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Charge:	Rape
Sentence:	Incarceration in juvenile facility until 18th birthday
Years Imprisoned:	1.1
Year Crime:	1991
Year Convicted:	1995
Year Cleared:	2000
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Washington
County or Region of Crime:	Spokane
City of Crime:	Spokane
Result:	Judicially Exonerated
Summary of Case:	"Dayna L. Christoph was wrongly convicted in 1995 in Spokane, Washington of raping her younger sister. Dayna Christoph was 17 when her adopted mother contacted authorities that she thought Christoph might have molested her younger sister. Christoph admitted after three days of intensive police questioning that she had "touched" her younger sister, and after days more of questioning she admitted to sexually touching her sister 100 times over a 2-1/2 year period beginning in 1991. Christoph's sister was never questioned by the police about the allegations. Although there was no evidence that a crime had been committed other than Christoph's confession, her public defender advised her to plead guilty although she insisted she had made up her confessions, and the Spokane County Juvenile Court accepted her guilty plea. She was sentenced to be in custody until her 18th birthday. In October 1998 the twenty-year-old Christoph had a baby and it was seized by Child Protective Services because of her background. With the help of the Spokane non-profit organization, the Center for Justice, Christoph filed a petition to withdraw her guilty plea based on ineffective assistance of her counsel, that as a matter of law, evidence of her convicted crime could not solely be based on her confession, and that and that evidence of her innocence had been uncovered. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Ellen Kalama Clark granted Christoph's motion to withdraw her guilty plea and vacate her conviction on January 14, 2000, ruling that her case was a "manifest injustice.” The State appealed. On December 19, 2000, the Washington Court of Appeals Division 3 affirmed Judge Clark's ruling, stating that “a minimally adequate investigation would have discovered Ms. Christoph’s documented long-term mental and emotional difficulties and sufficient exculpatory evidence to warrant dismissal” of her charge by the juvenile court."
Conviction Caused By:	False confession extracted after 3 days of interrogation followed by days more of interrogation.
Innocence Proved By:	"On December 19, 2000, the Washington Court of Appeals Division 3 affirmed Judge Clark's ruling, stating that “a minimally adequate investigation would have discovered Ms. Christoph’s documented long-term mental and emotional difficulties and sufficient exculpatory evidence to warrant dismissal” of her charge by the juvenile court."
Defendant Aided By:	"Center for Justice (Spokane, Wash.)"
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	17
Age When Released:	18
Sex:	Female
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"A Few of Washington’s Wrongfully Convicted, By Staff writer, Seattle Weekly, May 7 2013"
Information Location 1:	http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/946786-129/harris-convicted-served-trial-county-state
Information Source 2:	"Lost in the system: Mental illness, rape controversy complicate child custody case, By Jonathan Martin (Staff writer), Spokane Spokesman-Review, August 1999"
Information Location 2:	https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/deja.comm.cpr/sJAeiCsNeCY
Information Source 3:	"State v. Christoph, 103 Wn. App. 1051 (Wash. Ct. of Appeals, Div. 3, 2000) (Affirming lower court's ruling)"
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Information Source 4:	"Christoph v. State, No. 95-8-00720-8 (Superior Court for Spokane County) Judgment by Judge Ellen K. Clark, entered February 8, 2000."
Information Location 4:
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Dayna L. Christoph

Charge:

Rape

Sentence:

Incarceration in juvenile facility until 18th birthday

Years Imprisoned:

1.1

Year Crime:

1991

Year Convicted:

1995

Year Cleared:

2000

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Washington

County or Region of Crime:

Spokane

City of Crime:

Spokane

Result:

Judicially Exonerated

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

False confession extracted after 3 days of interrogation followed by days more of interrogation.

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

"Center for Justice (Spokane, Wash.)"

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

17

Age When Released:

18

Sex:

Female

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"A Few of Washington’s Wrongfully Convicted, By Staff writer, Seattle Weekly, May 7 2013"

Information Location 1:

http://www.seattleweekly.com/home/946786-129/harris-convicted-served-trial-county-state

Information Source 2:

"Lost in the system: Mental illness, rape controversy complicate child custody case, By Jonathan Martin (Staff writer), Spokane Spokesman-Review, August 1999"

Information Location 2:

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/deja.comm.cpr/sJAeiCsNeCY

Information Source 3:

"State v. Christoph, 103 Wn. App. 1051 (Wash. Ct. of Appeals, Div. 3, 2000) (Affirming lower court's ruling)"

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Christoph v. State, No. 95-8-00720-8 (Superior Court for Spokane County) Judgment by Judge Ellen K. Clark, entered February 8, 2000."

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: