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Wrongly Convicted Database Record
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Charge: |
Sexual Assault (includes aggravated) |
Sentence: |
25 years |
Years Imprisoned: |
22 |
Year Crime: |
1992 |
Year Convicted: |
1992 |
Year Cleared: |
2017 |
U.S. State or Country of Crime: |
Texas |
County or Region of Crime: |
Dallas |
City of Crime: |
Dallas |
Result: |
Judicially Exonerated |
Summary of Case: |
"Darryl Demitri Adams and Ronald J. Eubanks were codefendants wrongly convicted in 1992 of sexual assault in Dallas County, Texas allegedly committed in August 1992. An anonymous person called the police and reported seeing a rape on Harry Hines Boulevard in Dallas. Police arrived and found Darryl Adams, Ronald Eubanks, and a woman and her two young children asleep on the sidewalk near the Salvation Army. The police questioned Adams and Eubanks who denied knowing anything about a person being raped, and the woman denied having been raped, but after being taken aside, at the urging of an officer she told them that Adams raped her and Eubanks attempted to rape her, but wasn't able to. Adams and Eubanks were arrested. Their prosecution was solely based on the alleged victim's police statement. The person who anonymously reported seeing a rape wasn't identified and interviewed. Adams and Eubanks denied having raped or attemped to rape the woman. However, both agreed to plead no contest to aggravaed sexual assault in exchange for 10 years of deferred prosecution. If they successfully completed their 10 years of probation they would serve no time in prison. In the next year both Adams and Eubanks violated their deferred prosecution agreements: Adams didn't pay required fees and he was charged with burglarizing a building. Adams was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the sexual assault, and 20 years in prison for the burglary. Eubanks failed to pay required fees, he missed meetings with a probation officer, he failed to provide a urine sample to test for drugs, and marijuana was found in his system from a drug test. Eubanks was sentenced to 10 years in prison. The woman who accused them died about 2001. On June 3, 2003 Eubanks was released on parole. Post-conviction DNA testing excluded both Adams and Eubanks of having sexual relations with the woman. Adams filed a habeas corpus petition to withdraw his plea based on the new evidence and for a new trial. The trial court judge recommended the granting of Adams' petition. On August 11, 2014 Adams was released on bond. On March 23, 2016 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Adams' habeas petition to withdraw his plea based on the new DNA evidence of his actual innocence, and granted a new trial. Eubanks had also filed a habeas corpus petition to withdraw his no contest plea, and the trial court recommended granting his petition. On December 7, 2016 the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Eubanks habaes petition to withdraw his plea as involuntary in consideration of the new DNA evidence that suggested he was actually innocent, "because when he pleaded no contest, he could not read and write and the plea papers were not read to him." On February 8, 2017 the Dallas County District Attorney's Office's motion to dismiss the charges against Adams and Eubanks was granted. In a 2016 interview with The Dallas Morning News, Attorney Gary Udashen, who is president of the Innocence Project of Texas, and represented Adams in his habeas proceeding, said it was "a screwy about the case." And, he said about the woman's accusation against Adams and Eubanks, "She was afraid they (the police) were going to take her children away from her, so I think she made up this story." Adams' burglary conviction was unaffected by the overturning of his sexual assault conviction." |
Conviction Caused By: |
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Innocence Proved By: |
"On February 21, 2017 the Dallas County District Attorney's Office's motion to dismiss the charges against Adams and Eubanks was granted." |
Defendant Aided By: |
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Compensation Awarded: |
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Was Perpetrator Identified? |
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Age When Imprisoned: |
25 |
Age When Released: |
47 |
Sex: |
Male |
Skin/Ethnicity: |
Black |
Information Source 1: |
"DNA clears Dallas County man of rape but path to exoneration not clear, By Jennifer Emily (Writer), The Dallas Morning News, April 8, 2016" |
Information Location 1: |
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2016/04/08/dna-clears-dallas-county-man-of-rape-but-path-to-exoneration-not-clear |
Information Source 2: |
"Ex Parte Darryl Demitri Adams, No. WR-29,889-04 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 3-23-2016) (Granting habeas corpus relief and ordering withdrawl of no contest plea and for a new trial based on new exculpatory DNA evidence.)" |
Information Location 2: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2016/wr-29-889-04.html |
Information Source 3: |
"Ex Parte Ronald J. Eubanks, No. WR-82,034-01 & WR-82,034-02 (Tex. Court of Criminal Appeals 12-7-2016) (Granting habeas corpus relief and ordering withdrawl of no contest and for a new trial.)" |
Information Location 3: |
http://law.justia.com/cases/texas/court-of-criminal-appeals/2016/wr-82-034-01.html |
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Innocents Database Created and Maintained by Hans Sherrer innocents@forejustice.org