| First Name | Gary |
| Last Name | Dotson |
| Year of Conviction | 1979 |
| Year of Exoneration | 1989 |
| State of Conviction | Illinois |
| Trial, Bench Trial, or Guilty Plea | Trial |
| Type of Crime | Rape |
| Death Sentence | No |
| Gender of Exoneree | Male |
| Race of exoneree | White |
| Juvenile | No |
| Description / Quotes from Testimony Concerning Defense | Missing transcript of defense case |
| Types of evidence at trial |
|
| Type of Forensic Evidence |
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| Types of Flawed Forensics |
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| Reason why invalid | (1), (2) Masking, Failure to Exclude |
| Brief Quote / Description of Testimony | The victim and Dotson were both B secretors. B blood group substances were identified on the victim’s panties and the analyst testified that the donor was a B secretor. However, due to masking, those substances could have entirely originated with the victim and any male could have been the donor. The analyst also did not exclude Dotson despite finding in another stain A antigens foreign both to the victim and Dotson, explaining “The A stain – – I can’t say the A stain, I can’t say that blood is A, I can’t say that blood is B, all I can say is that material was blood, and a mixture of – – it could be perspiation [sic], could be other body fluids in combination of B and H activity” and that those A substances could have come from “lots of materials; dust, wood, leather, certain kinds of clothes, different cloth materials, detergents in materials…” The analyst testified that questioned hairs were “consistent” with the defenant. |
| Identity of eyewitness |
|
| Suggestive Procedures | No transcript – victim later recanted her identification and admitted she fabricated the crime report |
| Highest level reached | State Post Conviction |
| Claims Raised During All Appeals and Postconviction |
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| Harmless Error Rulings |
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| Citations to judicial opinions | People v. Dotson, 424 N.E.2d 1319 (Ill. App. 1981) |