The Dunbar Village Case: Defendants, Verdicts, and Sentences

The Dunbar Village case refers to the June 18, 2007 gang rape and torture of a 35-year-old Haitian immigrant mother and her 12-year-old son inside their apartment at the Dunbar Village public housing complex in West Palm Beach, Florida. Four defendants were convicted: three received life sentences (two later reduced to 60 years under U.S. Supreme Court rulings on juvenile offenders), and the youngest, who pleaded guilty and testified against the others, received 30 years.¹²

What Happened on June 18, 2007

A teenager lured the mother outside her unit in Building 1843 by telling her she had a flat tire. As many as ten masked teenagers, armed with guns, then forced their way into the apartment. Over roughly three hours, the mother was repeatedly raped and sodomized while her son was beaten in a separate room. At gunpoint, she was forced to perform oral sex on her child. The attackers doused both victims with household chemicals, burning the boy’s eyes, in what investigators later determined was an attempt to destroy DNA evidence. They stole cash, jewelry, and cell phones before fleeing.³

No neighbors intervened or called police. The mother and son walked roughly a mile to a hospital for help. The local prosecutor called it “the worst crime I’ve seen in 37 years in the business.”⁴ The attackers had threatened to return if the mother contacted police.⁵

The Four Defendants

The victim reported that as many as ten boys took part. West Palm Beach police built cases against four. Physical evidence drove the early arrests. DNA recovered from a condom at the scene was linked to Avion Lawson, then 14. A palm print inside the apartment matched Nathan Walker Jr., then 16. Jakaris Taylor, 15, was also identified through physical evidence.³

On July 18, 2007, a grand jury indicted the three juveniles on eight counts of sexual battery by multiple perpetrators, two counts of kidnapping, and one count of promoting the sexual performance of a child. They were transferred from juvenile detention to the Palm Beach County Jail to be tried as adults.⁴⁶

The fourth defendant, Tommy Lee Poindexter, was 18 at the time of the crime. Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputies picked him up on August 8, 2007, on unrelated firearm charges. Detectives then linked him to the rape, and he was indicted on August 17, 2007. His mother contested his involvement, saying he had been on house arrest in nearby Lake Park on the night of the attack.⁷

State Attorney Barry Krischer referred the juvenile cases to a grand jury specifically to ensure the defendants would be tried as adults, and he instructed his office not to negotiate plea deals.⁸

Trials and Verdicts

Avion Lawson, the youngest, pleaded guilty to all counts against him in August 2009 and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors, facing a sentencing range of 50 years to life. He testified against his three co-defendants.⁹

Poindexter and Walker were tried simultaneously before separate juries. During opening statements, Poindexter’s own attorney conceded that his client had raped the victim but disputed the remaining charges.¹⁰ Poindexter was convicted on 8 of 13 charges. Walker was convicted on 11 of 14 charges. Taylor followed shortly after and was convicted on all 13 counts against him.¹¹

Sentences and the Effect of Supreme Court Rulings

On October 13, 2009, Judge Krista Marx sentenced Poindexter, Walker, and Taylor each to life in prison. Marx told the defendants: “I can believe that none of you gentleman ever developed any moral code. And I have no confidence that if you are shipped off to the Department of Corrections you will find a moral compass there.”¹

On March 31, 2012, Marx sentenced Lawson to 30 years in prison followed by 10 years of probation, noting that his testimony “sealed this case against the co-defendants.”²

Two of the life sentences did not stand. In 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court held in Graham v. Florida that sentencing juveniles to life without parole for non-homicide crimes violated the Eighth Amendment. The 2012 ruling in Miller v. Alabama addressed mandatory juvenile life sentences more broadly. Because Walker and Taylor had been juveniles at the time of the crime, Florida courts had to revisit their sentences. Walker’s was reduced to 60 years in 2011.¹² Taylor’s was likewise reduced to 60 years.¹³ Poindexter, 18 at the time of the crime, was not covered by the juvenile rulings and kept his life sentence.

Both Walker and Taylor later sought further reductions, with their attorneys arguing that a 60-year sentence was functionally a life term and defeated the Supreme Court’s purpose of giving juvenile offenders a meaningful opportunity for rehabilitation. A resentencing hearing was set for March 5, 2018.¹³¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Civil Settlement With the Housing Authority

The victims also pursued a civil claim. Their attorney, Andy Custer, filed a notice of intent to sue the West Palm Beach Housing Authority, alleging it had failed to provide adequate security at Dunbar Village. After two all-day mediation sessions, the parties reached what was described as an “amicable settlement” in August 2008. The financial terms were not disclosed.¹⁷

The Complex Itself, and What Replaced It

Dunbar Village was a 246-unit public housing development built in 1940 in a barrack-style design on the predominantly Black north side of West Palm Beach. In the year before the attack, police were called to the complex 717 times. Overhead lights were shot out so often that officials considered installing bulletproof fixtures. Federal funding for public housing security, once $160,000 a year, had been eliminated by Congress roughly four years earlier. Average rent was $150 a month.³

The attack accelerated long-stalled demolition plans. In June 2008, HUD approved the housing authority’s request to tear down 13 buildings containing 36 units, citing structures that were “significantly distressed and obsolete.”¹⁸ A $65 million, multi-phase redevelopment followed, replacing the old buildings with mixed-income housing across four projects completed between 2014 and 2019: Sabal Palm Place, the Paul Laurence Dunbar Senior Complex, Silver Palm Place, and Royal Palm Place. The original 8-foot iron fence that had surrounded the complex was removed.¹⁹

The Sharpton and NAACP Controversy

Early in the prosecution, Reverend Al Sharpton and the Palm Beach chapter of the NAACP appeared at a press conference supporting the defendants’ families and advocating for bail, arguing that the denial of bail was unfair compared with a separate case involving white defendants. Fliers distributed at the event described the accused teenagers as “voiceless, vulnerable, victims” and “Young African-American Males [who are] An Endangered Species.”²⁰

Black feminist writers and bloggers pushed back hard. A critic writing as “Shecodes” published an open letter on the blog What About Our Daughters calling the stance a “betrayal.” Others demanded that Sharpton and the NAACP engage in “critical self reflection” about intra-community violence. Richard McIntyre, then the national NAACP’s communications director, had told reporters that “black on black crime is not part of our mission,” a remark that fueled further criticism. Under sustained public pressure, both Sharpton and the NAACP revised their positions.²⁰ The episode became a reference point in wider debates about violence against Black women and the tension between defending Black men from a racially disproportionate criminal justice system and holding them accountable for harm against Black women.

1
UPI. 3 Get Life for Juvenile Gang Rape in Fla.
2
Palm Beach Post. Youngest Dunbar Village Rape Defendant Sentenced
3
NBC News. Gang Rape Case Shines Light on Housing Project
4
The New York Times. Gang Rape Case in Florida Housing Project
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Sun-Sentinel. Rape Victim, Son Start Anew
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NBC News. Three Florida Teens Indicted in Dunbar Village Attack
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Sun-Sentinel. Fourth Teen Indicted in Dunbar Gang Rape
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Palm Beach Post. Dunbar Village: 3 Teens Indicted
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WFLX. Teen Pleads Guilty in Dunbar Rape Case
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Herald-Tribune. Details Emerge in Gang Rape Trial
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Palm Beach Post. Taylor Guilty on All Counts
12
WPBF. Dunbar Village Rape Participant Re-Sentenced to 60 Years
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CBS12. Two Men Convicted in Brutal Gang Rape Case Seek Prison Sentence Reduction
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CBS12. Dunbar Village Rapist to Be Resentenced
15
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Nathan Walker – Sexual Offender/Predator Flyer
16
Florida Department of Law Enforcement. Avion Lawson – Sexual Offender/Predator Flyer
17
Sun-Sentinel. Settlement Reached in Dunbar Rape Case
18
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD Approves Demolition of Distressed Housing Units
19
Palm Beach Post. West Palm Beach’s Dunbar Village Redevelopment
20
Dissent Magazine. Beyond Superwoman: Justice for Black Women Too