Douglas James And Anthony

On July 8, 1981, three men forced entry into a Tampa home. The five people living in this home were threatened with a gun and robbed. One of the assailants was armed with a shotgun. After the robbery two victims were taken, a 38-year old woman and a 12-year old girl. They were forced into the trunk the men’s car and taken to an unknown wooded area. After they were taken to this area, they were both removed from the trunk when one of the assailants forced the older victim to the front of the vehicle. She was raped both orally and vaginally. According to her testimony the assailant did not ejaculate (Innocence Project, n.d.). Shortly after, a second assailant took the younger victim to the back of the vehicle where he also raped her.

Corlenzo James’ pled guilty to robbery and burglary charges; Douglas James and Alan Crotzer were tried together. Crotzer tried to have his trial separated from Douglas James but his efforts were unsuccessful. Douglas James, who represented himself, pursued a consent defense with regard to the adult rape victim, this was unsuccessful. (Innocence Project, n.d.). Crotzer continued his defense stating he had no knowledge of the crime nor was ever there. All five victim identified Crotzer in court, more specifically as the assailant who held the shotgun and raped both female victims. He testified that he was with his girlfriend the night the crime was committed. He also stated that along with his girlfriend he was with a friend and other members of his girlfriend’s family. But based on the identifications made by the victims, serological evidence, his alibi was disregarded. Alan Crotzer was convicted of sexual battery, kidnapping, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, and attempted robbery (Augustine, M. 2006). He was sentenced to serve 130 years in prison (Augustine, M.

It was not until 2003, that he was actually able to access his trials evidence, which was being preserved at the Florida Department of Law Enforcement also known as the FDLE. The spermatozoa found on the evidence were subjected to three rounds of DNA testing at three different laboratories. Prosecutors agreed that the evidence should be tested. After being tested, the last round of testing at the Forensic Science Associates, had confirmed Crotzers innocence. It was found that the spermatozoa from the rape kit of the adult female victim came from an unknown male suspect. Thus eliminating, Crotzer, Douglas James, Corlenzo James and the victims husband. Along with this, during the trial, Corlenzo admitted to committing the crime with his brother and a child hood friend. Crotzer did not even know Corlenzo prior to the trial in 1982 (Crotzer speaks with PDs. 2007, July