The Iowa Supreme Court has overturned the conviction of former Multi-State Lottery Association Security Director Eddie Tipton, who was convicted of rigging a .5 million lottery jackpot in 2010. Justice Brent Appel said Tipton’s trial was marred by unjustified delays in the investigation. Tipton’s lawyers argued Iowa’s inquiry into the matter took so long the statute of limitations expired.
However, earlier this month prosecutors agreed to vacate the conviction under a plea agreement, regardless of the court’s decision, and allow Tipton to plead guilty to rigging other jackpots in Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wisconsin. Prosecutors will seek a 25-year prison term for Tipton, who pleaded guilty in Wisconsin this month to rigging a $2 million jackpot in 2007.
Appel said investigators took too long to try to interview key witnesses in Canada and Texas. He said they did not pursue the case “with due diligence” and were not entitled to an extension of the statute of limitations. “It took over three years for the trail to run cold when that point could have been reached by completing two simple tasks,” Appel wrote. Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation agent Matt Anderson testified he had a large workload including dozens of voter fraud cases assigned to him.
Investigators said, and a computer analysis confirmed, that Tipton installed code on lottery computers that allowed him to predict the winning numbers on three days of the year. They added he worked with other associates to purchase and claim winning tickets from 2005 to 2011.
The recent ruling was limited to the first and biggest jackpot linked to Tipton, a $16.5 million Hot Lotto drawing in December 2010. One year later, hours before the deadline, lawyers representing a Belize-based trust came forward with the winning ticket. They would not say who bought it and the Iowa Lottery would not pay it. Instead it requested a criminal investigation, which hit a dead-end. However, in 2014, investigators released surveillance video of a man wearing a hooded jacket, purchasing the winning ticket at a Des Moines gas station four years earlier. The man was identified as Tipton, who was charged and fired by the MSLA.
Tipton was convicted in 2015 of fraudulently trying to redeem the ticket and tampering with lottery equipment. The recent state Supreme Court ruling held the three-year statute of limitations had expired on the tampering charge and dismissed it. The court said the verdict on the other charge was tainted because of the lengthy investigation that let the statute of limitations expire. The court ordered a retrial on that count, but it most likely will not take place due to the plea deal.
