Florida Man Exonerated of 1983 Murder Sues After Serving 37 Years Behind Bars
A Florida man has filed a federal lawsuit after he was exonerated last year of a1983 rape and murder.
On August 19, 1983, 19-year-old Barbara Grams of Tampa, Florida, was walking home from her restaurant job when she was attacked, raped, and beaten to death. Her body was found behind a dental office during the early hours of the 19th.
At the time of her death, a rape kit was conducted, but the collected sample was never tested due to the lack of DNA technology. Two months after the murder, Robert DuBoise, who was only 18 at the time, was arrested and charged with sexual battery and murder of the teen. In 1985, DuBoise was found guilty based on a supposed bite mark that was found on Grams. A jailhouse informant also came forward with details that DuBoise was one of three men he named who had taken turns raping Grams before she was murdered. Neither of the other two men were ever prosecuted for the murder. The jailhouse informant’s participation with authorities knocked his five-year sentence down to 16 months served.
In 2019, the Innocence Project looked into DuBoise’s case after petitioning the state's Conviction Review Unit (CRU) that looks into questionable convictions. During a chance conversation with CRU’s supervising attorney, Theresa Hall, and a detective familiar with the case, officials were able to locate the stored away DNA from the rape kit. On August 20th, 2020, the rape kit sample was tested and effectively ruled DuBoise out as the suspect. The results of the sample also contradicted the jailhouse informant’s allegations that the two men he had named raped Grams.
The Innocence Project also found that the bite mark evidence that was entered into DuBoise’s trial was invalid. Dr. Adam Freeman, former president of the American Forensic Board of Odontologists, reviewed the bite mark evidence and found that the injury was not a bite mark, but instead an injury. Dr. Freeman also pointed out that the expert testimony provided by the forensic dentist would not have been allowed in trial under current standards.
Following the newly uncovered information, DuBoise, now 56, was subsequently exonerated and released from jail after having served 37 years.
Following his exoneration, DuBoise has filed a lawsuit for his wrongful conviction. Human Rights Defense Center Attorney Daniel Marshall explained in the lawsuit, “The only physical evidence implicating Mr. DuBoise was fabricated ‘bite mark’ evidence that supposedly matched Mr. DuBoise to an injury on the victim’s body. In fact, the victim’s injury was not a human bite mark at all.”
In the lawsuit, Dubois names the city of Tampa and four police investigators as defendants in the case. A South Florida forensic dentist, Dr. Richard Souviron, is also listed as a defendant. Dr. Souviron is accused of creating a faulty beeswax mold of DuBoise’s teeth to match the alleged bite mark on the victim's face. Dr. Souviron rose to notoriety after testifying as a forensic expert in the murder trial of serial killer Ted Bundy. One of Bundy's victims had a bite mark that matched the dental impressions of Bundy.
The lawsuit is seeking unspecified damages. However, supporters of Duboise have urged the state legislator to grant DuBoise at least $1.85 million in compensation for the wrongful conviction.
“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 reads. “Mr. DuBoise has been deprived of all the basic pleasures of human experience, which all free people enjoy as a matter of right.”
