An Absurd Result

Linda does something she’s been thinking of doing for years: She reaches out to Jim Bromgard. They agree to meet and remain in touch. Jim’s a dad now with two kids who mostly spent the millions awarded to him in a civil suit. Linda goes to work, lives her life and tries not to be angry about what happened. But sometimes she is. She wants people to know that problems with rape laws in the U.S. mean people like her never get justice, even when there’s DNA.

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The case moves out of Billings and when the gavel drops in the state’s highest court, Linda, her mom and husband are in the front row. But Linda doesn’t feel great about her chances when it comes to this Supreme Court precedent. She’s just left her family in Glacier National Park when she gets the call: the Montana Supreme Court dismisses the charges against Tipton. But there’s still one move left if the Montana Attorney General can get the U.S. Supreme Court to re-examine its 5-4 decision in light of this case and the certainty of its DNA match.

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Linda gets a visit from a prosecutor who tells her: We know who did this, and we’re going to charge him. But there’s a problem. It starts where a lot of old sexual assault cases do: with the statute of limitations. Montana’s clock to prosecute this case expired with the wrong man in prison. But a law that makes an exception for DNA comes into play. Tipton’s charged under this newer law, even though that move hits another roadblock: a 2003 Supreme Court decision that didn’t allow California to apply a new statute of limitation to an old rape case. A judge in Billings must decide if she’s going to go against the country’s highest court and let the charges stand.

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A former intern at the state crime lab is now the person in charge of the criminal DNA database that runs samples regularly. One morning, Megan Ashton discovers a hit on this case and links it to someone arrested on a felony marijuana charge. Ronald Dwight Tipton lives in White Sulphur Springs, about an hour from Linda. He meets detectives in a courthouse there who ask him about this crime. They start piecing together where he was in March 1987 and we knock on his door.

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Evidence that could have been destroyed from a trial in 1987 is instead discovered sealed in the basement of the Yellowstone County Courthouse. But in 2002, there aren’t many labs that will test it, and it’s expensive. After a donor comes forward, the results prove conclusively that Jimmy Bromgard is not a match. He’s the first person in Montana exonerated with DNA. Linda, who’s now living and working in Yellowstone National Park, has to reckon with watching the man she thought raped her walk out of prison. She asks: How could they be so wrong about all of it? And will they ever find who did this?

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A police sketch leads police to Jimmy Ray Bromgard, a senior at Billings Senior High. They get him in a lineup in front of Linda, the victim, who visibly reacts. The founder of the crime lab compares hairs in Linda’s bedroom to Jimmy’s, leading to an arrest in front of his house. A trial and a conviction follow, but now the founder of the Innocence Project is interested in his case. All he needs is DNA.

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Episode 1: The Crime

In the pre-dawn of March 20, 1987, a man moved a swingset closer to a house on Virginia Lane in Billings, Montana. He used it to climb into a bathroom window. He walked up the stairs and assaulted an 8-year-old girl in her bed. Six others in her family were home, but no one heard what happened and he left without getting caught. Then the investigation begins...

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Coming October 27th - The home invasion and sexual assault of an 8-year old girl in Billings, Montana, begins a decades long recovery process and a painstaking search for justice. Hosted by Jule Banville

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