By Curt Anderson -
The Associated Press
Robert DuBoise spent 37 years in a Florida prison convicted of a rape and murder he did not commit in 1983. Now the city of Tampa will pay him $14 million, in an attempt to make up for all those lost years of his life.
DuBoise was 18 years old when the crime occurred: he was initially sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Barbara Grams.
Later that sentence was changed to life imprisonment and in 2018 – after receiving help from the Innocence Project organization – when prosecutors
agreed to take a new look at the case
.
DNA evidence that was not available in the early 1980s pointed to two other men in the crime, leading to DuBoise's release in 2020. Shortly after, DuBoise sued the city of Tampa, police officers. police who investigated the case and a forensic dentist who had testified that his teeth matched an alleged bite mark on the victim.
The lawsuit filed by DuBoise, who was released from prison in 2020, was resolved on January 11, 2024, but
the Tampa Council voted unanimously this Thursday to approve it and officially grant the $14 million to DuBoise
, who now He is 59 years old.
Members said the money is the least the city could do for him.
Robert DuBoise, in a photo when he was released from prison after serving 37 years in prison, on August 27, 2020. He just received the money. Associated Press
“It was a big mistake
,” said Councilman Luis Viera.
“I hope and pray that this settlement gives him some comfort.”
Latino is released after 25 years in prison after his conviction for a murder in Chicago was annulled: “Justice is very corrupt”
DuBoise, who did not attend Thursday's meeting, was represented in the case by the Chicago-based civil rights law firm Loevy&Loevy, which has handled numerous wrongful conviction cases across the country.
“The agreement is not only a recognition of the damage suffered by Mr.
DuBoise, but also an opportunity for him to move forward with his life,” the law firm stated in a statement.
In a brief phone interview after Thursday's vote, DuBoise said that's exactly what he's doing.
He said he works as a maintenance director at a Tampa-area country club and does other repair work.
He plans to buy a house.
"For me it means it's finally over. I'm glad I don't have to spend any more years of my life with this," he said.
“Money, houses, cars, none of that can give me back what I lost.
I don't feel bitter about anything.
I don't want to waste time with bitterness and consolation parties
.”
[He spent almost 30 years in prison for rape and robbery. A DNA test changed his destiny]
Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement that in the years since the DuBoise case, detectives are receiving better training and that technological advances have made great progress in the way these types of investigations are carried out. research.
“We recognize the deep and lasting effects of this case, especially in the case of Mr.
DuBoise were almost four decades later,” he stated.
DuBoise and his law firm will receive $9 million this year, $3 million next year and $2 million in 2026, according to city documents.
Grams was sexually assaulted and beaten to death in August 1983 while returning home from her job at a Tampa restaurant.
A medical examiner concluded that a wound on her cheek had resulted from a bite, prompting investigators to
take denture samples from several men
, including DuBoise.
The impression of the wound was made with beeswax.
[Baltimore frees a man tried four times for the same murder, which he claims he did not commit]
The forensic dentist determined that the bite came from DuBoise, even though he did not know Grams but frequented the area where her body was found.
The dentist testified as part of DuBoise's lawsuit that he no longer believes bite marks can be directly linked to a person, the council's settlement resolution stated.
Robert DuBoise, with his sister Harriet (left) and his mother Myra, after his release, in Florida, on August 27, 2020. Steve Nesius / AP
Decades later, DNA evidence pointed to Amos Robinson and Abron Scott, both sentenced to life in prison for another murder.
Both are awaiting trial charged with first-degree murder in the Grams case.
The testimony of a prison informant, according to which DuBoise confessed to killing Grams, was also later discredited.
The city denied in the settlement that any of its police officers
were guilty of intentional misconduct
, as DuBoise alleged in the lawsuit.
DuBoise was released from a Florida prison in August 2020.
“I prayed to God every day and waited for him,” DuBoise declared moments after his release.
In a court hearing held a month later in which the case was finally closed, DuBoise said that it has been difficult for him to trust the judicial system “because they have put a lot of obstacles in my way.”
Now, he stressed, he believes justice has been done.
“There are people of heart in these offices now,” DuBoise said.
“It has been incredible.
I am very grateful to everyone
.”