Florida man exonerated from 1983 murder files jail complaint

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla .– A Florida man exonerated of rape and murder in 1983 after serving 37 years in prison is continuing his wrongful conviction in which a disproved bite mark was crucial evidence.

Robert DuBoise, 56, was released from prison in August 2020 after long-preserved and untested DNA evidence from a rape kit proved he was innocent of the murder of 19-year-old Barbara Grams in Tampa, in Florida.

Grams was raped and beaten to death on her way home from work in a restaurant on August 19, 1983. No one else has been arrested for her murder.

In the federal lawsuit filed this week, DuBoise’s attorneys name the city of Tampa, four police investigators and a forensic dentist who testified that a bite mark on Grams’s cheek was from DuBoise as defendants – based of a defective beeswax mold made from its teeth.

“The only physical evidence implicating Mr. DuBoise was fabricated ‘bite mark’ evidence that would have matched Mr. DuBoise with an injury to the victim’s body. In fact, the victim’s injury was not a human bite mark at all, ”Human Rights Center attorney Daniel Marshall wrote in the lawsuit.

The dentist was Dr Richard Souviron, who gained notoriety as an expert after testifying in the murder trial of serial killer Ted Bundy that one of his victims in Florida had a bite mark that matched his teeth. . Souviron, whose firm is in Coral Gables, Fla., Did not immediately return a phone message on Saturday seeking comment.

In a speech he gave at a police chiefs meeting before the DuBoise case, the lawsuit quotes Souviron as saying “if you tell me the guy did it, I’ll go to the court and say the guy did it ”.

Lawsuit says beeswax was not an accepted method of identifying tooth marks in murder cases and was only used “because another officer from the Tampa Police Department operated a honey business next door “.

Further, the lawsuit argues that investigators conspired with prison informants to falsely implicate DuBoise in Grams’ murder and were guilty of misconduct in handling his case. DuBoise never confessed to anyone and maintained his innocence throughout, his lawyers said.

The lawsuit, first reported by the Tampa Bay Times, seeks unspecified damages. DuBoise supporters have sought $ 1.85 million in compensation from the state legislature, but this claims bill has so far gone nowhere.

DuBoise was only 18 when he was arrested for the Grams murder. According to the lawsuit, investigators initially focused on DuBoise after an employee at a gas station across from where Grams’ body was found told police that three “boys” named Robert, Bo and Ray had “caused trouble” in the area. Still, it was six months before Grams was killed.

He was convicted of his murder and initially sentenced to death. His sentence was reduced in 1988 to life imprisonment until his acquittal and release last year.

His innocence was proven after a review of the case by the Hillsborough County State Attorney’s Office and Project Innocence, which is working nationwide to free wrongly convicted prisoners.

“A free man for the first time since his teenage years, Mr. DuBoise must now get his life back in hand after nearly 40 years in prison,” said the trial. “Mr. DuBoise has been deprived of all the basic pleasures of human experience, which all free people enjoy by right.