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David Shawn Pope

Voice Comparison Convicts
The Crime
In July of 1985 in Dallas County, Texas, a man knocked on a woman’s door asking if somebody
lived there, and then immediately left. The following morning at 6 AM the woman awoke to find
the man standing over her bed with a knife. He assaulted and raped her, and fled the scene.
She called the police and reported the crime. In the next following weeks, she was contacted by
an anonymous caller who she immediately claimed was the rapist because she recognized his
voice. He called several times and the police were able to record a few of the calls.


The Investigation
The victim was able to help produce a composite sketch of the suspect. David Shawn Pope
became a suspect after police saw him around the area and thought he looked similar to the
sketch. Pope was presented to the victim multiple times in a photo lineup, along with other
similar looking males and no identification was made. After there was no identification, those
six people were put into a live lineup and thirty minutes later the victim identified Pope as the
attacker.   



                                                          David Shawn Pope



The Trial
A trial was started in February of 1986 against David Pope. Multiple police officer testified to
Pope matching the composition sketch and an officer even testified to seeing Pope at the scene
of the crime the morning of the attack. The victim even pointed him out in court. However, the
prosecutor also presented the voicemails left by the anonymous caller accompanied by a “voice
print analysis” claiming that it matched Pope. Larry Howe Williams, a police officer, made the
analysis presenting evidence that both sound waves made similar patterns on the paper drums.
Williams testified that he was certified to make this identification after taking a two week course
and two years of experience on the job. He stated the two voices could only come from one
single individual. David Shawn Pope was convicted.


Exoneration

In January of 1999, Dallas County's District Attorney's Office received an anonymous call stating
Pope was innocent. After receiving this call they ran a DNA test on the rape kit and it came
back matching a different convicted rapist. Pope was exonerated and released in February of
2001 after spending 15 years in prison.


Work Cited

David Shawn Pope (2012, June). The National Registry of Exonerations. Mar. 2018.
https://www.law.umich.edu/special/exoneration/Pages/casedetail.aspx?caseid=3542

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