Good News for 08/31/20 - Robert DuBoise has been released after 37 years in prison

UU A Way Of Life Supports the Innocence Project and we received this email on 08/28/20 In October 1983, Robert DuBoise was arrested for the rape and murder of a 19-year-old woman in Tampa, Florida. He was convicted based solely on bite mark evidence — a forensic method that has since been debunked — and an unreliable jailhouse informant’s testimony. He spent three years on death row and a total of nearly 37 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Robert always maintained his innocence, and State Attorney Andrew Warren of the Conviction Review Unit (CRU), who joined in the re-investigation of the case, agreed that there is "not one shred of evidence" that Robert is guilty of the crime. The State Attorney went on to say, “We’ve had an innocent man locked up for a crime that he did not commit, while the real perpetrator was never held accountable for this horrific murder,” and apologized to Robert “on behalf of the entire criminal justice system.”

Robert DuBoise reunites with his mother Myra DuBoise in Bowling Green, Florida following his release on Aug. 27. Image: Casey Brooke Lawson/AP Images for the Innocence Project.

Yesterday, Robert was released after spending nearly 37 years in prison, more than two-thirds of his life, for a crime he didn’t commit. New DNA testing of crime scene evidence that was thought to have been destroyed, and was later found, excluded him as the assailant and proved what he’d always said. This is a story more people need to hear — read more about Robert’s story and share this news with your friends and family on social media. “It’s an overwhelming sense of relief,” Robert said to Tampa Bay Times reporters, adding that he had “no bitterness at all.” “I don’t have room in my life for bitterness,” he said. “If you keep hatred and bitterness in your heart, it just steals your joy from everything else.” And after reuniting with his mother, he said, “I did it. I hugged my mom.” We’re glad that Robert has finally been released, and we are eager to see him fully exonerated. A hearing is set on September 14 for a joint motion from the Innocence Project and the CRU to completely reverse Robert’s conviction and exonerate him. This is why we do this work.

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Thanks, — The Innocence Project Team