DNA hyperlinks two males in jail to chilly case from 1983 that initially despatched the flawed man to jail for 37 years
A grand jury indicted Robinson and Scott Thursday for the rape and homicide of Linda Lansen, whose crushed physique was present in City and Nation in July 1983 in bushes with a gunshot wound to the pinnacle, Warren stated.
“These two males not solely robbed me, however they robbed a 7-year-old little woman of her mom,” stated Linda Sheffield, Lansen’s niece, throughout Thursday’s information convention.
“Once they’re initially murdered, the shock is there, however 39 years later the shock is now not there,” she stated. “However the void stays, and the ache stays and the crying stays. It would not go away.”
Robinson and Scott are additionally topics of different chilly case investigations from the identical time interval within the Tampa Bay space, Warren stated.
“We now know that these two males carried out a sinister spree of rape and homicide in Tampa Bay in the summertime and fall of 1983,” Warren stated.
It’s unclear if Robinson and Scott have attorneys presently.
DNA proof results in exoneration and new conviction
“Our investigation discovered DNA proof that established Robert didn’t homicide Barbara Grams; nevertheless, that DNA proof did present new leads and launched a recent investigation,” Warren stated.
The DNA pattern that didn’t comprise materials from DuBoise was run by way of a nationwide database containing DNA samples of convicted felons and led investigators to Scott and Robinson, who had been already serving life sentences in a Florida jail for a homicide they dedicated in Pinellas County in October of 1983, Warren stated.
With that data, investigators had been capable of construct a case for Grams’ homicide and open a chilly case investigation into Lansen’s homicide.
Earlier than his conviction, he was transported to Hillsborough County Jail. A jailhouse informant who spoke with DuBoise later testified falsely that DuBoise had confessed to the crime throughout his jail keep, The Florida Innocence Mission stated.
“I’m unhappy for the households who’ve waited so lengthy to get true closure,” DuBoise advised CNN Friday. “I spent 37 years imprisoned for against the law I used to be completely harmless. That is what occurs when the police concentrate on the flawed individual, make up proof to suit their concept and do not examine to seek out the reality. Lives are ruined and communities are much less secure.”
