The Nation - News from May 8, 1985

Gary Dotson, who has served six years in prison for a rape that his former accuser now says did not occur, expanded his avenues for seeking freedom by filing a request in Chicago for a new trial. Dotson’s attorney said that a lie detector test shows his client is not guilty and that the test, although not admissible in court, can be used in a clemency hearing Thursday. The Illinois Supreme Court freed Dotson from prison last week on a $100,000 bond while he appeals his 1979 rape conviction. He made his appeals after a New Hampshire housewife, Cathleen Crowell Webb, recanted previous testimony and announced last month that she had fabricated the rape charge because she feared that she was pregnant after having sex with her boyfriend.