Charles Dabbs was convicted in 1984 of first degree rape. The victim had been assaulted from behind, dragged into an alley, and forced down a flight of stairs. She lost consciousness, awaking to find two other men with her assailant. One man held her arms, the other her legs, and a third raped her. She identified only one person - the rapist. Based on this identification, Dabbs was convicted and sentenced to twelve and a half to twenty years in prison.

At trial, the victim's testimony was bolstered by the fact that she and Dabbs are distant cousins and that the assailant had distinctive clothes that were similar to Dabbs's. He could not be ruled out as a contributor of the semen stain on the victim's pants by methods of conventional serology.

In 1990, Dabbs gained access to the evidence for DNA testing. Though testing on the victim's pants was inconclusive, DNA was successfully extracted from a cutting of the victim's underwear. Dabbs was excluded and his conviction was vacated. Based on this exclusion, the prosecution dismissed the indictment, seven years after Dabbs was convicted.