Exonerated man sues over imprisonment

A Florida man exonerated of a 1983 rape and murder after serving 37 years in prison is suing over his wrongful conviction in which a disproved bite mark was crucial evidence.

Robert DuBoise, 56, was freed from prison in August 2020 after long-shelved, untested DNA evidence from a rape kit proved he was innocent of the slaying of 19-year-old Barbara Grams in Tampa, Fla.

Grams was raped and beaten to death while walking home from her job at a restaurant on Aug. 19, 1983.

No one else has been arrested for her murder.

In the federal lawsuit filed last week, DuBoise’s attorneys name as defendants the city of Tampa, four police investigators and a forensic dentist who testified a bite mark on Grams’ cheek was from DuBoise — based on a faulty beeswax mold made of his teeth.