Exonerated Of 1983 Murder, Florida Man Sues Over Imprisonment

2 years ago 170

MIAMI (CBSMiami/AP) – A antheral who was exonerated of a 1983 rape and execution aft serving 37 years successful situation is suing implicit his wrongful condemnation successful Florida.

Robert DuBoise, 56, was freed from situation successful August 2020 aft long-shelved, untested DNA grounds from a rape kit proved helium was guiltless of the slaying of 19-year-old Barbara Grams successful Tampa, Florida.

Grams was raped and beaten to decease portion walking location from her occupation astatine a edifice connected Aug. 19, 1983. No 1 other has been arrested for her murder.

In the national suit filed this week, DuBoise’s attorneys sanction arsenic defendants the metropolis of Tampa, 4 constabulary investigators and a forensic dentist who testified a wound people connected Grams’ feature was from DuBoise — based connected a faulty beeswax mold made of his teeth.

“The lone carnal grounds implicating Mr. DuBoise was fabricated ‘bitemark’ grounds that supposedly matched Mr. DuBoise to an wounded connected the victim’s body. In fact, the victim’s wounded was not a quality bitemark astatine all,” Daniel Marshall, an lawyer for the Human Rights Defense Center, wrote successful the lawsuit.

The dentist was Dr. Richard Souviron, who gained notoriety arsenic an adept aft testifying successful the execution proceedings of serial slayer Ted Bundy that 1 of his Florida victims had a wound people that matched his teeth. Souviron, whose signifier is successful Coral Gables, Florida, did not instantly instrumentality a telephone connection Saturday seeking comment.

In a code helium gave to a constabulary chiefs gathering earlier the DuBoise case, the suit quotes Souviron arsenic saying “if you archer maine that is the feline that did it, I volition spell into tribunal and accidental that is the feline that did it.”

The suit claims beeswax was not an accepted method of identifying teeth marks successful execution cases and was utilized “only due to the fact that different serviceman successful the Tampa Police Department operated a chromatic concern connected the side.”

In addition, the suit contends that investigators conspired with jailhouse informants to falsely implicate DuBoise successful the Grams sidesplitting and were blameworthy of misconduct successful the handling of his case. DuBoise ne'er confessed to anyone and maintained his innocence throughout, his lawyers said.

The lawsuit, archetypal reported by the Tampa Bay Times, seeks unspecified damages. Supporters of DuBoise person requested $1.85 cardinal successful compensation from the authorities Legislature, but that claims measure has truthful acold gone nowhere.

DuBoise was conscionable 18 erstwhile helium arrested successful the Grams slaying. According to the lawsuit, investigators initially focused connected DuBoise aft an attendant astatine a state presumption crossed the thoroughfare from wherever Grams’ assemblage was recovered told constabulary that 3 “boys” named Robert, Bo and Ray had been “causing trouble” successful the area. Yet this was six months earlier Grams was slain.

He was convicted of her execution and initially sentenced to death. His condemnation was reduced successful 1988 to beingness successful situation until his exoneration and merchandise past year.

His innocence was proven aft a reappraisal of the lawsuit by the Hillsborough County authorities attorney’s bureau and the Innocence Project, which works nationwide to escaped prisoners who are wrongly convicted.

“A escaped antheral for the archetypal clip since helium was a teenager, Mr. DuBoise indispensable present enactment his beingness backmost unneurotic aft astir 40 years successful prison,” the suit says. “Mr. DuBoise has been deprived of each the basal pleasures of quality experience, which each escaped radical bask arsenic a substance of right.”

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