Robert DuBoise: Florida; Junk bite-mark evidence: A truly (maddening) tale of two stories: (From our 'something is wrong in this picture' department.) Read on!

STORY ONE:  (October 20, 2020);

On the morning of Oct. 19, Robert DuBoise woke up early to get to his polling place in Hillsborough County, Florida, and cast the first-ever vote of his life.

In 1983, when Robert turned 18, he was arrested for rape and murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death based solely on an unreliable jailhouse informant’s testimony and the pseudo-science of bite mark evidence. After spending nearly 37 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Robert was officially exonerated last month.

He said his priorities after getting out were to “get my driver’s license and register to vote.” 

The entire story can be found at:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/rob/FMfcgxwKjBRFkBRPxfmGmtbSwVSTbmpj

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STORY TWO: (January 29, 2021):

Last year, Robert DuBoise was exonerated after spending nearly 37 years in prison for the rape and murder of a woman in Florida — a crime he didn’t commit. Robert lost decades of his life due to a wrongful conviction based on the pseudoscience of bite mark comparison and an unreliable jailhouse informant’s testimony. But Florida’s exoneree compensation law has unfair barriers that exclude him and other innocent people from getting the justice they deserve. That’s right — because of past unrelated, minor offenses, Robert is ineligible for compensation after spending nearly four decades in prison, including three years on death row, for something he didn’t do. Florida state lawmakers can fix the exoneree compensation law this year by passing House Bill 589.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who are heading to the Super Bowl next month, heard about Robert’s story and wanted to help amplify it. So NFL360 produced a powerful short segment highlighting Florida’s broken system through Robert’s case — check it out, and then spread the word. Florida’s law is the only one in the country that bars exonerees with unrelated convictions from being compensated for the years they lost to wrongful imprisonment. It needs to be fixed so that people like Robert, who have been robbed of their freedoms and a chance to build a career and family, are included. The entire story can be  found at:

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgxwLsJvLngJrQrPnXRHchlSCJNvb

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PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic"  section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/charlessmith. Information on "The Charles Smith Blog Award"- and its nomination process - can be found at: http://smithforensic.blogspot.com/2011/05/charles-smith-blog-award-nominations.html Please send any comments or information on other cases and issues of interest to the readers of this blog to: hlevy15@gmail.com.  Harold Levy: Publisher: The Charles Smith Blog;

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FINAL WORD:  (Applicable to all of our wrongful conviction cases):  "Whenever there is a wrongful conviction, it exposes errors in our criminal legal system, and we hope that this case — and lessons from it — can prevent future injustices."

Lawyer Radha Natarajan:

Executive Director: New England Innocence Project;

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FINAL, FINAL WORD (FOR NOW!): "Since its inception, the Innocence Project has pushed the criminal legal system to confront and correct the laws and policies that cause and contribute to wrongful convictions.   They never shied away from the hard cases — the ones involving eyewitness identifications, confessions, and bite marks. Instead, in the course of presenting scientific evidence of innocence, they’ve exposed the unreliability of evidence that was, for centuries, deemed untouchable." So true!

Christina Swarns: Executive Director: The Innocence Project;

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