Prosecutor accused of hiding DNA report, keeping man jailed, in Euless kidnapping case

An attorney has asked the court to dismiss the kidnapping indictment issued against the man who is accused in the disappearance of a Fort Worth woman in 2016.

Typhenie Johnson was last seen on Oct. 10, 2016, outside her apartment in far east Fort Worth after a breakup with a boyfriend.

Johnson’s boyfriend, Christopher Revill, 35, of Fort Worth, has been in the Tarrant County Jail awaiting trial on the kidnapping charge since October 2016.

Revill has also been implicated in the disappearance of another young woman, Taalibah Islam, who was reported missing by him in January 2006.

The motion alleges that the Tarrant County prosecutor listed in the case, Arthur Clayton, intentionally misled Revill and his attorney by telling the court on four occasions that a laboratory report containing DNA test results was not available.

Clayton had the Fort Worth Crime Lab report since Dec. 18, 2017, and failed to say anything to the court about it, the motion stated. Clayton is also accused of telling the court that the report was not available because a machine essential to producing it was not working, which was not true, according to the motion, which was written by Revill’s attorney, Lesa Pamplin.

Pamplin said she saw the crime report on a laptop computer being used on Oct. 1 by Clayton.

“It was at that time that the State turned that report over to defense counsel,” the motion stated. “The defense counsel noted the report being dated December 18, 2017, with no positive findings on Christopher Revill.”

The laboratory report contained no results connecting Revill to the kidnapping and the state had an obligation to provide that information to the defense, the motion stated.

“The State’s failure to disclose this evidence and mislead this court to believe the laboratory report had not been received due to an inoperable DNA machine is intentional and grossly negligent,” the motion stated.

Pamplin has asked the court to dismiss the indictment against Revill, according to the motion. Revill’s image has been used in intimate partner violence presentations offered to by the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office that suggest guilt of the accused crime, the motion stated.

The Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to request for a comment.

This story was originally published November 26, 2018 at 11:22 AM.