TAMPA, Fla. — He was only 19 when he was wrongfully convicted of murder in Tampa and spent nearly 37 years behind bars.
Robert DuBoise was found innocent in the 1983 murder and rape of 19-year-old Barbara Grams in August 2020 and was released from prison. The following month, a judge vacated his conviction, clearing him of all charges.
Now, DuBoise is taking the city of Tampa and the detectives behind his arrest to court.
In a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, Phillip Saladino, K.E. Burke and John Counsman are all accused of tampering with evidence in order to arrest DuBoise. The three men were detectives with the Tampa Police Department at the time. The lawsuit also claims forensic odontologist Dr. Richard R. Souviron worked with detectives to fabricate evidence and convict DuBoise.
During the review of DuBoise's case, Conviction Review Supervising Attorney Teresa Hall found rape kit samples that were not used during the trial at the Medical Examiner's Office. After being sent for DNA testing, the results showed that "DuBoise's DNA was not present in the samples."
State Attorney Andrew Warren said at the time two key pieces led to DuBoise's murder conviction: a bite mark on Gram's body and jail informant testimony. However, Warren said the CRU team determined there was "clear and convincing evidence" to reject both of those elements tying DuBoise to the crime.