Jun 24, 1980 - Madison, WI
Charise Kamps is found dead in her third-floor apartment, she had been strangled, raped, and mutilated. Kamps had spent the evening together with friends,
including brothers Ralph and Steve Armstrong, drinking and doing drugs. Ralph Armstrong was charged with rape and murder. He was on parole at this time in
New Mexico on a sodomy conviction and four rape convictions. Armstrong admits he was in Kamps' apartment, but he said he didn't kill her.
1981 - Madison, WI
Ralph Armstrong is found guilty and sentenced to life in prison plus 16 years starting denials, requests for a new trial, and claims of misconduct that would
last for decades. At the trial Riccie Orebia, said she lied about her testimony, which came after she had been hypnotized, then recanted her identification
of Armstrong, and then recanted the recantation.
1991
A Court of Appeals rules Armstrong is not entitled to a new trial even though a DNA test invalidates some of the evidence, calling the semen evidence
“an insignificant piece of circumstantial evidence linking Armstrong to Kamps and to her apartment.”
2001
More DNA testing was conducted and excluded Armstrong and the victim’s boyfriend as the source of the head hairs on the bathrobe belt, and finding
that the semen stain used against Armstrong at his trial belonged to the victim’s boyfriend. Armstrong's request is denied anyway.
2005
TheWisconsin Supreme Court overturns Armstrong's conviction, granting him a new trial.
While a new trial was pending, a woman testified at a hearing that she had called Dane County Assistant District Attorney John Norsetter in 1995 to report that
Armstrong’s brother, Steve, confessed that he, not Ralph, was guilty of the crime, and that he feared Ralph would be exonerated by DNA and come after him if
he found out Steve was the real guilty party. The woman said she described Steve’s gruesomely detailed confession to Norsetter, who did not report this evidence
to defense attorneys and did not pursue the lead. Steve Armstrong had disappeared shortly after the crime and never again contacted his brother Ralph.
Steve died in 2005.
2009
Ralph Armstrong served more than 28 years in Wisconsin prisons for murder before a judge overturned his conviction in 2009 based on evidence that a prosecutor
had deliberately withheld evidence of his innocence more than a decade earlier.
Dane County Circuit Judge Robert Kinney ruled that harm done to Armstrong by misconduct by prosecutors can't be fixed and the charges should be dropped. Murder
charges against Armstrong were thrown out. Prosecutors considered an appeal, which delayed Armstrong's release from prison, but eventually declined.
2017
Armstrong receives a more than $750,000 settlement
Charise Marie Kamps (19)
Ralph Armstrong (28)
Steve Armstrong - Died in Tennessee in July 2005
Ralph Armstrong - Innocence Project
Armstrong was featured on an "America's Most Wanted" television special
