385
submitted 10 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Robert DuBoise, sentenced over a 1983 rape and murder he did not commit, says he hopes others in his position now ‘get justice’

A Tampa, Florida, man who has been authorized to receive $14m for spending nearly four decades in prison over a rape and murder which he did not commit says he hopes his case makes it easier for the unjustly convicted to achieve justice before it’s too late for them.

“I’m just grateful,” Robert DuBoise told the New York Times of the compensation that Tampa’s city council voted to pay him to settle a lawsuit over his wrongful conviction. He said he hoped others in his position now “get justice and can move on without having to spend the rest of their life fighting the system that has already wronged them”.

DuBoise was 18 at the time that 19-year-old Barbara Grams was raped and beaten to death as she walked home from her Tampa restaurant job in August 1983. A medical examiner determined that someone had bitten Grams on one of her cheeks, prompting investigators to take bite samples from multiple men, including DuBoise.

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] flathead@lemm.ee 97 points 10 months ago

“Mark Zuckerberg made more than $28 billion this morning after Meta stock makes record surge” https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/02/business/meta-stock-surge-mark-zuckerberg/index.html

seems fair.

[-] spider@lemmy.nz 31 points 10 months ago

...your poster child for trickle-down economics. /s

load more comments (6 replies)
[-] loobkoob@kbin.social 73 points 10 months ago

$14m seems far too low:

  • 40 years at $350,000 per year
  • 480 months at $29,170 per month
  • 14,600 days at $960 per day

Those don't sound too bad until you get to:

  • 350,400 hours at $40 per hour.

$40 an hour in exchange for losing most of your life - and the vast majority of your best years - is a fucking disgrace.

[-] iAvicenna@lemmy.world 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

not to mention the need for psychological damage compensation. The guy lived 40 years with people around him, his friends and maybe relatives thinking that he brutally raped and murdered a young girl. I would have gone crazy probably, and die of stomach cancer or sth.

[-] DrSteveBrule@mander.xyz 8 points 10 months ago

I agree he should receive a higher compensation, but have no idea what that should be. I can't look at it in terms of dollars per hour and think of an appropriate amount worth giving up 40 years of life. If I was in that position I don't think 1billion would be fair.

[-] idunnololz@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago

Is the 14m taxable?

[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 5 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

I saw it differently, I was pleasantly surprised to see an amount that high because now he has the remainder of his life, maybe 30 to 40 years, to spend 14 Million USD. He could buy a home and car and still have enough for a modest retirement, if he chooses to.

If he invests the remainder into VYM then the dividends alone would be more than my annual salary.

[-] Cosmonauticus@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago

No amount of money is worth 40 years

[-] doctorcrimson@lemmy.today 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Agreed, but if a person were given a sum of money then that amount would seem about appropriate to me. Minimum 8M depending on legal fees, but preferably closer to 40M if we want him to be extra well off. We cannot undo the past.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] shugosha@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

It should be total FU money. The state should give him free healthcare, free public transportation, free legal services, free public utilities, and free internet.

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] ZombiFrancis@sh.itjust.works 21 points 10 months ago

Just a forty year whoopsie daisy.

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 8 points 10 months ago

This story is like male disposability meets eminent domain.

“Meh, he was compensated for his time”

[-] Tolstoshev@lemmy.world 21 points 10 months ago

Your tax dollars at work /s

[-] moistclump@lemmy.world 13 points 10 months ago

Not to mention the tax dollars spent to house and feed an innocent man. And the salaries of the lawyers and cops involved to get him there.

[-] Fenrisulfir@lemmy.ca 21 points 10 months ago

Is he actually gonna get it or is there gonna be an appeal where he’s dragged through the courts again for years and only awarded $500k after being forced to pay $10 million in legal fees?

[-] boblives@lemmy.world 20 points 10 months ago

It’s a settlement, which means the city agreed to pay the $14,000,000 instead of going to trial and risk a verdict of a much higher amount. So no there won’t be any appeals and he should see the money.

[-] spider@lemmy.nz 11 points 10 months ago

says he hopes others in his position now ‘get justice’

Hopefully this includes Tommy Zeigler.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

reads the headline without context

Reality TV is going too far these days if you ask me..

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
385 points (99.0% liked)

News

23650 readers
2335 users here now

Welcome to the News community!

Rules:

1. Be civil


Attack the argument, not the person. No racism/sexism/bigotry. Good faith argumentation only. This includes accusing another user of being a bot or paid actor. Trolling is uncivil and is grounds for removal and/or a community ban. Do not respond to rule-breaking content; report it and move on.


2. All posts should contain a source (url) that is as reliable and unbiased as possible and must only contain one link.


Obvious right or left wing sources will be removed at the mods discretion. We have an actively updated blocklist, which you can see here: https://lemmy.world/post/2246130 if you feel like any website is missing, contact the mods. Supporting links can be added in comments or posted seperately but not to the post body.


3. No bots, spam or self-promotion.


Only approved bots, which follow the guidelines for bots set by the instance, are allowed.


4. Post titles should be the same as the article used as source.


Posts which titles don’t match the source won’t be removed, but the autoMod will notify you, and if your title misrepresents the original article, the post will be deleted. If the site changed their headline, the bot might still contact you, just ignore it, we won’t delete your post.


5. Only recent news is allowed.


Posts must be news from the most recent 30 days.


6. All posts must be news articles.


No opinion pieces, Listicles, editorials or celebrity gossip is allowed. All posts will be judged on a case-by-case basis.


7. No duplicate posts.


If a source you used was already posted by someone else, the autoMod will leave a message. Please remove your post if the autoMod is correct. If the post that matches your post is very old, we refer you to rule 5.


8. Misinformation is prohibited.


Misinformation / propaganda is strictly prohibited. Any comment or post containing or linking to misinformation will be removed. If you feel that your post has been removed in error, credible sources must be provided.


9. No link shorteners.


The auto mod will contact you if a link shortener is detected, please delete your post if they are right.


10. Don't copy entire article in your post body


For copyright reasons, you are not allowed to copy an entire article into your post body. This is an instance wide rule, that is strictly enforced in this community.

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS