On January 25, 1990, at approximately 3:15 p.m., Ruby and Dunbar Dyches were staying at the Tahitian Inn in Tampa, Florida, when two men robbed them. After the couple returned from shopping, someone knocked on their motel room door. When Dunbar opened the door, a man armed with a gun forced his way in and demanded money. A second man struck Dunbar in the head outside the room, while the first man entered the room and took Ruby’s purse. Witnesses later saw two men running from the motel and leaving in a maroon-colored vehicle.
The vehicle believed to have been used in the robbery was later recovered, but no fingerprints were obtained connecting Tony Hopps to the vehicle, the firearms later recovered, or the crime scene. The following day, police pursued another stolen vehicle containing Ruby’s belongings, firearms, and masks. Four men fled from that vehicle, including Calvin Fisher, whom an officer recognized. Tony could not have been one of those men because he had been taken into custody the previous night on an unrelated matter.
The victims described the first perpetrator as muscular, with a mustache but no beard. Investigators later created a six-person photographic lineup that included Tony, his brother Willie Hopps, and Calvin Fisher. Rather than having the lineup administered by an independent law enforcement agency, the lead detective mailed it directly to Ruby and Dunbar at their home in Georgia. Both selected Tony’s photograph. The record later showed that Ruby told Dunbar she believed the perpetrator was among the photographs before Dunbar made his selection.
There were significant discrepancies between the victims’ original description and Tony’s appearance. A photograph of Tony taken on the day of the crime showed that he had a beard and did not appear muscular. Decades later, the Conviction Review Unit concluded that the lineup procedure did not meet Tampa Police Department standards in effect at the time and that an identification obtained through the same procedure would likely be suppressed today.
The State’s case relied entirely on Ruby and Dunbar’s identification of Tony. Both identified him in court, but there were no other eyewitnesses identifying Tony and no forensic evidence connecting him to the crime. Tony’s defense was mistaken identity and alibi.
Evidence supporting that alibi existed. The robbery occurred at approximately 3:15 p.m., while police records showed that an officer encountered Tony near his home at 3:49 p.m., approximately 5.1 miles from the motel. A later investigation determined that the drive between the locations took approximately 21 minutes. Witnesses also placed Tony near his home around that time. Although Tony’s defense possessed computer records documenting the police encounter, those records were not introduced at trial, and the officers who testified could not recall the precise date and time of their encounter with Tony.
Tony was convicted of armed burglary of a dwelling and two counts of robbery with a firearm. He was subsequently sentenced to three concurrent life sentences. On appeal, one of the robbery convictions was reversed because of insufficient evidence, and the remaining sentences were later ordered to run consecutively.
Tony continued challenging his convictions for decades. In May 2020, he applied to the Conviction Review Unit of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, which undertook a comprehensive review of the case, including the original records, photographic lineup, witness testimony, and newly discovered evidence.
The CRU identified substantial problems with the case. It concluded that the photographic lineup procedure was flawed, Tony did not match the victims’ original description, and newly developed evidence supported his alibi. The investigation also determined there was not a feasible amount of time for Tony to have committed the robbery and then been encountered by police near his home. Another witness who had not testified at trial came forward and corroborated that Tony was near his home at the time of the robbery.
The CRU ultimately concluded that the State could no longer stand behind Tony’s convictions. Its review found that the investigative techniques used in the case were faulty and that newly discovered evidence, including problems with the timeline, the photographic lineup, and additional alibi evidence, called the convictions into question.
After more than 31 years of wrongful incarceration, Tony Hopps was released on August 23, 2021.
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