Robert DuBoise

DNA excluded DuBoise

2020 DNA testing of three preserved rape-kit slides excluded DuBoise as both the major and minor male contributor.

Alleged accomplices also excluded

The same testing excluded his brother Victor DuBoise and Raymond Garcia, the two men the jailhouse informant claimed had committed the crime with him.

No eyewitness, no physical link

No eyewitness placed DuBoise near the crime scene, and other physical evidence excluded him as the perpetrator, per Innocence Project counsel.

State Attorney's assessment

State Attorney Andrew Warren stated there was "not one shred of evidence" that DuBoise committed the crime.

CODIS hit to other suspects

The DNA profile produced a CODIS hit leading to two other men, Amos Robinson and Abron/Abraham Scott, who were indicted in 2022 for Grams's murder and a second 1983 murder.

Consistent claim of innocence

DuBoise maintained his innocence for 37 years, writing letters and pursuing his claim throughout his incarceration.

Rape-kit slides located in 2020

In August 2020, CRU supervising attorney Teresa Hall located three autopsy rape-kit slides at the Medical Examiner's office — evidence the State had previously told the court was destroyed in 1990.

New DNA technology

DNA technology unavailable at the time of trial produced profiles from those slides.

Bite-mark evidence debunked by new expert review

Dr. Freeman concluded the mark on Grams's cheek was not a bitemark at all, that beeswax molds distorted the impressions of DuBoise's teeth, and that formaldehyde preservation of the cheek tissue made it unsuitable for comparison.

Informant's hidden sentence reduction

The Innocence Project investigation discovered that informant Claude Butler's five-year sentence had been reduced to time served (13 months) after State Attorney E.J. Ober filed a motion to mitigate on Butler's behalf in June 1985 — after DuBoise's trial.

Undisclosed second-witness relationship

Investigators uncovered a previously undisclosed relationship between a second informant/witness (Andrusckiewiecz) and prosecutors in an unrelated murder case.

Post-trial scientific consensus

Scientific consensus developed after the trial established bite-mark comparison as unreliable; the Hillsborough CRU announced it would work with the Innocence Project to review other county convictions that used bite-mark evidence.

False statement to the jury about informant benefits

Prosecutor Ober told the jury in closing that he had no previous contact with Butler and that "We made no promises to him [...] we did nothing for him. He asked nothing." That was false: Ober had overseen the indictment on one of the charges Butler pleaded to, and later moved to mitigate Butler's sentence, which was cut to 13 months.

Jury misled about informant's incarceration

Jurors were told the informant was in prison and would remain there to serve his entire sentence — which did not happen.

Undisclosed benefits to second witness

There was an undisclosed benefits/relationship between prosecutors and a second witness (Andrusckiewiecz) in an unrelated murder case.

Appellate claims

On direct appeal DuBoise argued the dental casts of his teeth were the product of an illegal search, and that use of statements he allegedly made to Butler was unconstitutional because Butler was acting as an agent of the state; he also argued Judge Coe abused his discretion in overriding the jury's life recommendation, and the Florida Supreme Court agreed on that point in 1988.

Civil rights lawsuit allegations

DuBoise's October 2021 federal civil rights lawsuit against the City of Tampa, four police investigators, and Dr. Souviron alleged (not adjudicated) that investigators conspired with jailhouse informants to fabricate testimony; that beeswax was used for dental impressions "only because another officer in the Tampa Police Department operated a honey business on the side"; and that Souviron had told a police chiefs' gathering, "if you tell me that is the guy that did it, I will go into court and say that is the guy that did it." The City of Tampa settled for $14 million in 2024.

Discredited bite-mark testimony

Dr. Richard Souviron, the odontologist known for testifying in the Ted Bundy trial, twice opined that DuBoise's dentition matched a mark on Grams's cheek. This was the only physical evidence purporting to place DuBoise at the scene, and bite-mark comparison has since been widely discredited.

Beeswax dental molds

The first mold of DuBoise's teeth was made in beeswax; a second, sturdier mold was taken on October 23, 1983, and Souviron again reported a match.

Jailhouse informant Claude Butler

Butler, held in the jail's mental-health unit alongside DuBoise, told Detective Saladino in January 1984 — after being introduced by Detective John Counsman, for whom he had informed before — that DuBoise admitted he, his brother Victor, and Raymond Garcia raped and murdered Grams during a robbery. Butler was facing kidnapping, armed robbery, probation-violation and assault-on-an-officer charges and up to two life sentences; the Innocence Project found significant inconsistencies in his trial testimony, and his account was contradicted by the DNA.

Second witness's claim

Joanne Suarez told police DuBoise said to her in August 1983 that he had killed someone.