Florida remains the only state to disqualify exonerees from compensation if they were formerly convicted of unrelated felony offenses. The State sought this sentence reduction even though the Florida Parole and Probation Commission recommended against an earlier presumptive parole date. During the medical examiners autopsy, he found a pattern injury on the victims face that was determined to be a human bite mark inflicted around the time of her death. Mr DuBoise has been deprived of all the basic pleasures of human experience, which all free people enjoy as a matter of right., Florida man cleared of rape and murder convictions after 37 years in prison, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. The states theory at trial was that on Aug. 18, 1983, DuBoise, his brother Victor DuBoise and friend Raymond Garcia sexually assaulted and killed a 19-year-old woman, though only DuBoise was arrested and prosecuted for these crimes. The testimony of DuBoises fellow inmate was also called into doubt. A Florida man who was wrongfully convicted of raping and murdering a woman walked free Thursday after 37 years behind bars. A Florida trial court has freed a former death-row prisoner after local prosecutors said new DNA evidence had proven his innocence of the rape and murder for which he was wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death 37 years ago. , which is affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice. He walked free that afternoon. View Robert Roger Dubois results in Melbourne, FL including current phone number, address, relatives, background check report, and property record with Whitepages. Join to connect PR. A Florida man exonerated of a 1983 rape and murder after 37 years in prison is suing over his wrongful conviction, and initial sentence to death, in which a disproven bite mark was crucial evidence. As part of this effort, both parties worked collaboratively to re-investigate this crime. All Rights Reserved. Prior to his conviction, he was transported to Hillsborough County Jail where a jailhouse informant interacted with him and later falsely testified DuBoise had confessed to the crime during his time there. The American Board of Forensic Odontology (ABFO) has revised its standards and guidelines, and now explicitly states that an ABFO Diplomate shall not express conclusions unconditionally linking a bite mark to a dentition.. Find Robert Dubois's phone number, address, and email on Spokeo, the leading people search directory for contact information and public records. Floridas newly established Conviction Review Unit agreed to review DuBoises case in September 2019, according to a timeline the state attorneys office provided to Oxygen.com. All of the other physical evidence excluded DuBoise and there were no eyewitnesses that placed him near the crime scene. The first thing he wanted to do was hug his mom. The best result we found for your search is Robert G Dubois age 60s in Naples, FL in the Palm River neighborhood. He was convicted of her murder and initially sentenced to death. Robert DuBoise, 55, has spent two-thirds of his life behind bars for the 1983 rape and killing of a woman in Tampa, Fla. Robert DuBoise reunites with his sister Harriett DuBoise, attorney Susan Friedman, and mother Myra DuBoise following a 37-year wrongful incarceration on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020 in Bowling Green, Fla. (Image: Casey Brooke Lawson/AP Images for The Innocence Project). Join our mailing list to receive the latest news and updates from the Innocence Project: DNA testing excludes DuBoise in a case that rested on unreliable bite mark evidence and jailhouse informant testimony. Family and friends can send flowers and condolences in memory of the loved one. Website by MADEO. Lived In . DuBoise was just 18 when he arrested. Emailus. Left; Robert and his mom, left, and his sister, right, on the day he was freed. All rights reserved. If you believe you have been contacted by such a person, please. Report this profile . In the federal lawsuit filed this week, DuBoises attorneys name as defendants the city of Tampa, four police investigators and a forensic dentist who testified a bite mark on Grams cheek was from DuBoise based on a faulty beeswax mold. In 2014, the Florida Supreme Court adopted a rule of criminal procedure requiring the prosecution to disclose impeachment evidence on jailhouse informants within 15 days of the defense requesting discovery materials. This directly contradicted the Assistant State Attorneys statement to the jury that the informant was in prison and that he would be going right back to prison to finish serving his sentence. A free man for the first time since he was a teenager, Mr. DuBoise must now put his life back together after almost 40 years in prison, the lawsuit says. Far right Republicans wanted him executed years ago. In 2019, the Innocence Project reached out to the Conviction Review Unit (CRU) at the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit in Tampa to begin a joint re-investigation based on new evidence on the jailhouse informant and concerns about the discredited bite mark evidence. On Monday, a hearing before Hillsborough county judge Christopher Nash resulted in an order wiping away the convictions and life sentence, and removing DuBoise from the state sex offender registry. DuBoise never confessed and maintained his innocence throughout, his lawyers said. Alabama still allows trial judges to impose the death penalty based upon a jurys 10-2 or 11-1 vote for death. Grams was attacked and beaten to death while walking home from her job at a restaurant on 19 August 1983. DuBoise has not yet been officially exonerated. The Conviction Review Unit (CRU) at the Office of the State Attorney for the 13th Judicial Circuit has announced that in light of the clear injustice that occurred in this case and the discreditation of bite mark analysis as a reliable scientific technique, they will collaborate with the Innocence Project to review Hillsborough County cases that utilized bite mark evidence to secure a conviction. I am grateful to the Conviction Review Unit for their partnership on this case and look forward to collaborating on re-examining other bite mark cases to identify other wrongful convictions that resulted from the use of this highly unreliable evidence. said Susan Friedman, DuBoises Innocence Project attorney. Despite testimony that the informant did not work as a cooperating informant, the CRUs re-investigation revealed that the jailhouse informant was, in fact, an informant; that he had provided information on other murders and rapes in the Tampa Bay area; and that one of the detectives was the informants handler. Additionally, a memorandum from the State Attorneys file that was disclosed during the Innocence Project and CRUs joint post-conviction re-investigation indicated that the jailhouse informant strongly inferred that he was looking for a sentence reduction in exchange for his cooperation with law enforcement and the prosecutor on the DuBoise case. After 37 years of being incarcerated for a crime he did not commit, Robert DuBoise was expected to be released from prison on Thursday, according to a press release from Hillsborough State. Use tab to navigate through the menu items. Copyright 2023 LocatePeople.org. On 11/07/2006 STATE OF FLORIDA filed an Other - Other Criminal lawsuit against DUBOIS, ROBERT BRANDON. DuBoise has been deprived of all the basic pleasures of human experience, which all free people enjoy as a matter of right., Republished with permission of The Associated Press. You can learn more about how we consider cases here. Florida State Attorney's Office, Floridas newly established Conviction Review Unit agreed to review DuBoises case in September 2019, according to a, For one thing,the injury on Gramscheek likely wasnt a bite mark at all and even if it was, bite marks are no longer considered reliable evidence in identifying suspects, according to new expert testimony referenced in. The dentist, Dr Richard Souviron, gained notoriety as an expert after testifying in the murder trial of serial killer Ted Bundy that one of his Florida victims had a bite mark that matched his teeth. He concluded that the original bite mark conclusions are unsupported by science and, most critically, found that although three experts at trial concluded that the mark on the victims cheek was a bite mark, the injury in this case was in fact not a bite mark. In 2020, despite previous assurances that all the biological evidence from the rape kit was destroyed, slides from the victims autopsy were also found at the office of the Medical Examiner for Hillsborough County. DuBoise never confessed to anyone and maintained his innocence throughout, his lawyers said. The District Attorneys should be help liable for every case that they wrongfully convict. DNA evidence proved Robert DuBoise, who was released from prison last month, did not commit 1983 crime Robert DuBoise, 55, meets reporters with his sister Harriet, left, and mother Myra,. The only physical evidence implicating Mr DuBoise was fabricated bitemark evidence that supposedly matched Mr DuBoise to an injury on the victims body. It wont be easy. On Sept. 10, 2020, the Innocence Project filed a Motion for Post-Conviction Relief and Vacate Judgment and Sentence based on newly discovered evidence. The exculpatory DNA evidence freed Robert DuBoise of his wrongful conviction and made him Floridas 30th person exonerated after being sentenced to death. Charge: Capital Murder and Attempted Sexual Battery, Conviction: Capital Murder and Attempted Sexual Battery, Real perpetrator found? And a dental expert cited by the Innocence Project found that the injury on Ms. Gramss cheek was not a bite mark at all, Mr. Warren said. Robert DuBoise was convicted of the 1983 killing of Barbara Grams after a forensic dentist testified regarding a faulty beeswax mold. His strength, courage, and determination for nearly four decades has made this day possible. At DuBoises trial, the jailhouse informant explained that he was testifying for two reasons: (1) he did not condone forcing a woman to do anything; and (2) he did not want Robert to take the whole blame for the crime. Wrongful convictions erode the foundation of our justice system. View FREE Public Profile & Reputation for Robert Dubois in Titusville, FL - See Court Records | Photos | Address, Emails & Phone Number | Personal Review | $70 - $79,999 Income & Net Worth The lawsuit claims beeswax was not an accepted method of identifying teeth marks in murder cases and was used only because another officer in the Tampa police department operated a honey business on the side. . Mr. DuBoises father died while he was incarcerated, she said. Robert DuBoise leaves the Hardee County Correctional Institute after 37 years in prison. Robert Dubois in Florida. Although DuBoise was the charged perpetrator, there was no other physical or circumstantial evidence connecting him to the attack. I have been waiting for this day for nearly 37 years. After three years on death row, the Florida Supreme Court reversed Robert DuBoises death sentence and substituted it with life plus fifteen years. Another leading factor in wrongful convictions nationally is jailhouse informant testimony, playing a role in 17 percent of the 375 DNA-based exoneration cases. Select the best result to find their address, phone number, relatives, and public records. DuBoise, who had never been convicted of a violent crime, fully cooperated with police and allowed them to take a mold of his teeth. The Innocence Project, which is affiliated with Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University, is a national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted people through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system. In fact, the original prosecutions case rested rested primarily on two pieces of evidence:the testimony of a fellow inmate, and a woundon the woman's cheek that a dental expert identified as a bite mark from DuBoise's teeth, according to. After a 2008 hearing, a judge concluded that even if the evidence was suitable for testing, it would not exonerate DuBoise because the states theory was that two other individuals participated in the crime. 6 Wrongful Convictions That Were Overturned. He may be eligible for substantial compensation: in February, the state of Florida approved a $2 million compensation claim for a man whod been in prison since 1976 for a murder he didnt commit. In 2020, despite previous assurances that all the biological evidence from the rape kit was destroyed, slides from the victims autopsy were also found at the Medical Examiner for Hillsborough County. He was released on . No other physical evidence linked DuBoise to the crime. Florida is the only state that disqualifies exonerees from being compensated if they were convicted of unrelated crimes. Until 2016, Florida permitted trial judges to impose death sentences despite jury recommendations for life or based on non-unanimous jury votes for death. Robert Dubois was wrongly convicted for a 1983 rape and murder. Robert DuBoise was convicted at a trial that relied on a testimony from an unreliable jailhouse informant and faulty bite-mark analysis. Earlier this month, however, a prosecutor in Hillsborough County, Fla., made a startling discovery: The county medical examiners office had preserved rape kit samples in the case that were not used in Mr. DuBoises trial. No one else has been arrested for her murder. The family of the victim deserves to have the truth, as painful as it may be. Robert Dubois in Florida. He was released from prison last month. Publisher: Peter Schorsch @PeterSchorschFL. While we rely on charitable donations to support our work, we never solicit money for our services from our clients. So when he heard the news he was thrilled, but his reaction was, Its like waking up from a nightmare., Ms. Gramss family could not immediately be reached for comment on Wednesday. In 1983, no reasonable dentist or forensic odontologist believed that bite mark molds made from beeswax impressions constituted a reliable or generally accepted basis for either identifying or excluding potential murder suspects, the suit states. The testimony of DuBoises fellow inmate was also called into doubt. As part of this effort, both parties worked collaboratively to re-investigate this crime. Robert has spent decades determined to show that he was wrongfully convicted, and we are eager to see him fully exonerated, said Susan Friedman, DuBoises Innocence Project attorney. DuBoise is seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. Today, it has finally succeeded.. The judge denied DuBoises request to test the other biological evidence, finding that because the States theory was that DuBoise committed this crime with others, excluding him from the evidence would not be sufficient to prove his innocence. In March 1985, a jury convicted DuBoise of capital murder and attempted sexual battery and recommended a life sentence, but the judge overrode the recommendation and sentenced DuBoise to death. After testifying in court against DuBoise and once a death sentence was secured, the informant received a further sentence reduction to time served and he was immediately released. On September 14, 2020, Robert DuBoise became the 30th person exonerated from Florida's death row. Judge Christopher. Crime News is your destination for true crime stories from around the world, breaking crime news, and information about Oxygen's original true crime shows and documentaries. Have a tip or story idea? The Innocent project did their job. Reserved. Or to keep it anonymous, click here. In October 1983, DuBoise was arrested for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman based solely on unreliable bite mark evidence. DuBoise will be the 171st documented death-row exoneration in the U.S. since 1973. Oxygen Insider is your all-access pass to never-before-seen content, free digital evidence kits, and much more. They have also lived in Indialantic, FL and Fort Myers, FL. Fraud Alert:We have heard that there are people who fraudulently represent themselves as working for the Innocence Project of Florida, promising legal representation in exchange for money. 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