| First Name | Charles |
| Last Name | Dabbs |
| Year of Conviction | 1984 |
| Year of Exoneration | 1991 |
| State of Conviction | New York |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | Black |
| Juvenile | No |
| Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | ● Missing transcript of defense case |
| Did the defendant testify at trial? | No |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
|
| Types of Flawed Forensics |
|
| Reason why invalid | (1), (2) Failure to exclude; Masking; no elimination testing |
| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | The victim was an AB non-secretor and Dabbs an O secretor. No blood type was detected on vaginal slides, but this was entirely consistent with the victim as a non-secretor or with degradation. There was no testimony, however, that this could be due to masking. See Part II.A.1 for a description of the problem of masking and non-quantification and discussion of similar cases. The B substances on pants belonging to sister of victim excluded Dabbs and were foreign to the victim. Yet the analyst testified that he drew no conclusion from that finding where Dabbs could have been a contributor to the stain. This exclusion was explained by the State with testimony that the sister had a boyfriend; however, no elimination testing was done on the sister or boyfriend to test that theory. |
| Identity of eyewitness |
|
| Suggestive Procedures | No – but Acquaintance |
| Unreliable Identification? | No ● Discrepancies in description – hair in cornrows, had no missing teeth |
| Quotes from testimony #2 | “What is it about the smile that you recall? A. He has some teeth missing.” |
| Highest level reached | Appeal |
| Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
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| Harmless Error Rulings |
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| Citations to judicial opinions | People v. Dabbs, 141 A.D.2d 664 (N.Y. App. Div. 2 Dept. 1988) |