Personal Background
Gary E. Dotson was a high-school dropout who, at the time of his arrest, was living in Country Club Hills, a modest Chicago suburb, with his mother Barbara and his sister Debbie. After conviction in 1979, the next eight years of his life were spent in prison; another four were spent on legal proceedings which led to charges being dropped in 1988 and a full pardon in 2002.
After his first release from prison in 1985, Dotson married Camille Dardanes, a woman who had come to know him during the hearings following his conviction. In March 1986, under difficult financial circumstances, the couple moved in with Dotson's mother. In January, 1987, they had a daughter, Ashley. The early years of their marriage were complicated by poverty, and by Dotson's unemployment and alcoholism. An August 1987 arrest for domestic violence further complicated Dotson's legal situation in the years to come. Near the end of 1987, Camille requested a divorce. She filed the formal paperwork in April 1989.
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