(C) Florida Phoenix This story was originally published by Florida Phoenix and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . DeSantis’ signature means compensation for long-incarcerated but innocent men [1] ['Michael Moline', 'More From Author', '- June'] Date: 2023-06-19 Legislation authorizing the state to pay $1.85 million to Robert DuBoise, who spent 37 years in prison, including three years on death row, for a sexual attack and murder he didn’t commit, has won Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature. According to a report on the case conducted for the Florida Legislature, Duboise’ conviction was based on unreliable testimony by a jailhouse snitch and the now-discredited field of bite-mark evidence. DNA testing of evidence thought lost has ruled him out as the killer of a woman in Tampa on Aug. 18, 1983. “I never lost faith that today would come. Now the world knows DNA proves I did not commit this crime,” Duboise told the Innocence Project, which worked his case, upon his release in 2020. “To walk out of this nightmare and hug my mother and sister after almost four decades, knowing I was innocent, is bittersweet. I can never regain the birthdays, holidays, and precious time I lost with them, never mind the life I could have made for myself. I am grateful to be here now with a chance to move forward, but I know there are more innocent people like me still behind bars,” he added. DeSantis also signed legislation authorizing nearly $1 million in compensation for a South Florida man imprisoned for 16 years for an armed robbery he did not commit, one in an array of “claims bills” approved during this year’s legislative session. Leonard Cure stands to collect $817,000 in cash plus 120 hours in free tuition at a Florida college, university, or career center. In-state tuition at the University of Florida next year would cost $6,380, or around $23,000 counting books, living expenses, and fees. He was convicted for robbing a Dania Beach Walgreens of $1,700 at gunpoint on Nov. 10, 2003, and sentenced to life in prison. This notwithstanding evidence he was at work at the time; the Broward County Conviction Review Unit subsequently discovered an ATM receipt placing Cure more than 3 miles away that morning. He’d started serving his sentence in 2005 and was released in 2020. Claims bills The state government enjoys immunity from lawsuits, so the Legislature needs to pass “claims bills” like these to authorize compensation to people who’ve been harmed by state and local officials. Other than the DuBoise and Cure settlements signed on June 9, DeSantis signed additional bills to: [END] --- [1] Url: https://floridaphoenix.com/2023/06/19/desantis-signature-means-compensation-for-long-incarcerated-but-innocent-men/ Published and (C) by Florida Phoenix Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/floridaphoenix/