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Request that Maine and New Hampshire Re-Investigate the Chad Evans case.
SIGN THIS PETITION
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Signatures
380 out of 3,650Petitioning
- Gov. John Lynch (NH)
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Chad Emery Evans was wrongfully convicted in December, 2001 in New Hampshire of the murder of Kassidy Bortner, the 21-month old daughter of his girlfriend, Amanda Bortner. Chad was initially sentenced to 28 years-to-life, and an additional 15 years subsequently were added to his sentence by the New Hampshire Sentence Review Division, upon appeal by the New Hampshire Attorney General.
This website was established in February 2010 with the goal of presenting all the available information relating to the tragic death of Kassidy Bortner on 9 November 2000. The causes of her death and her injuries are mysterious and disputed, but Chad was convicted of second degree murder. He was also convicted of related second-degree assault charges, and endangering the welfare of a child.
On 2 June 2000, Chad met Amanda Bortner and their love and relationship grew rapidly. By early July, Amanda and Kassidy were living at Chad's home in Rochester, New Hampshire. Chad's three-year old son, Kyle, also lived in the home several days a week, through shared custody with Chad's former wife, Tristan Wentworth Evans.
On the morning of 9 November 2000, Amanda took Kassidy to the Kittery, Maine home of her sister, Jennifer Bortner, and her sister's boyfriend, Jefferey Marshall, for babysitting for the day. Kassidy had a new bruise on one eye due to an accident the previous night when Chad was giving Kyle some batting practice with a brown plastic bat in Kyle's bedroom just before bedtime. While wiffle balls were usually used for such fun, the ball that Kyle hit into Kassidy's eye was a ball used in "Tee-ball" leagues. During his police interview on 9 November, Chad described the ball as a "hard rubber ball" and a "starter baseball."
The resulting bruise to Kassidy's left eye was the latest of a series of bruises which had been observed by many people during the fall of 2000. In a time of growing sensitivity to child abuse, most of the responsible adults close to Kassidy chose to believe that the bruises and injuries were unfortunate accidents, and that they didn't require medical care right away. The life-threatening severity of the injuries was not known or suspected by anyone. Tragically, those adults, including Chad Evans, were unaware that there was something very wrong with Kassidy.
Chad Evans never spanked nor hit Kassidy Bortner. He loved and cared for her. He passed a lie detector test given in July 2010.
Shortly after Noon on the 9th, Jeff Marshall checked on Kassidy and recognized that she was in trouble and seemingly lifeless; and he made several phone calls for help. The EMT's and Kittery Police arrived quickly, but Kassidy was dead when they arrived.
As the man living with Kassidy's mother, Amanda Bortner, Chad Evans was one of the four initial suspects, with the others being Amanda, Jeff, and Jennifer. By the time of Chad's 7:10 p.m. interview with the police, and within about six hours of Kassidy's death, the police were focused entirely on Chad; and worked thereafter to build the case against him. The case attracted considerable media attention, but Chad's attorneys advised him to say nothing to reporters. At his December 2001 trial, Chad took his attorneys' advice not to testify, and his attorneys decided to call only one defense witness. They called the nationally renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Michael Baden, as they thought his testimony was sufficient to establish the reasonable doubt needed for a not-guilty verdict. However, their assessment was wrong, and the jury found Chad guilty of most of the charges. When Chad was sentenced, he again took his attorneys' advice not to proclaim his innocence, in order to avoid angering Judge Tina Nadeau. Chad expressed sincere regret for his actions, by which he meant his failure to do more to help Kassidy. Nonetheless, Judge Nadeau chastised him for showing insufficient remorse, at least until the day of sentencing.
In November, 2002, Amanda Bortner was tried and found guilty of two counts of child endangerment and sentenced to two years in jail.
As of December, 2010, Chad Evans has been in the New Hampshire State Prison for nine years for crimes he didn't commit.
Why People Are Signing
Recent Signatures
Request that Maine and New Hampshire Re-Investigate the Chad Evans case
Dear Governors and Attorneys General of Maine and New Hampshire:
Chad Evans wrote to the Governors and Attorneys General of Maine and New Hampshire, on 9 November 2010 to ask that you, or your predecessors, re-investigate his case. More generally, all the circumstances surrounding the death of Kassidy Bortner on 9 November 2000 should be re-investigated. The 21-month old daughter of Amanda Bortner died in Kittery, Maine, and police rushed to the theory, within a few hours, and far too quickly, that Kassidy's death was caused by criminal acts, and second that Chad Evans was the sole perpetrator.
I write to support that request for a re-investigation of his case. There is no need to wait for the courts to act, as Governors and the Attorneys General of both states have the power to re-investigate cases. When your re-investigation learns more of the truth and determines that Chad Evans was wrongly convicted, or even probably wrongfully convicted, the Attorney General of New Hampshire should request the Strafford County Superior Court to vacate his convictions.
The truth about the Chad Evans case is presented, as much as possible, at his website at www.chadevanswronglyconvicted.org. If any law enforcement person, or other person, in Maine or New Hampshire disputes what's presented on that website, s/he may notify the Chad Evans Wrongly Convicted Committee at committee@chadevanswronglyconvicted.org or at 71 Sullivan Street, Keene, NH 03431, and those other views will be presented.
In July, 2010, Chad Evans passed a lie detector test and the results of that test are posted on his website. The questions were all related to the case in which he was wrongly convicted. He never spanked nor hit Kassidy Bortner.
In the interest of justice, please re-investigate the case of Chad Evans. One question to answer is: how did it happen that an innocent, loving and productive father and step-father was accused of horrendous acts against an infant girl he loved, and then convicted? As he wrote to you, he is willing to talk with any investigator, without restriction.
Sincerely,
[Your name]