At about 7 p.m. on January 10, 1984, two Black men attacked a white woman as she got into her car in a pharmacy parking lot in San Diego, California. One man opened the driver’s side door and pushed her to the passenger seat. The other man got into the back seat, and the car drove away.
Darren Wells saw the abduction and called the police. He said the two men were wearing dark clothing and one was taller than the other. The taller of the two, Wells said, had a silver tooth in the front of his mouth.
The woman was driven to a residential street where she was raped by the driver and then by the man who had gotten into the back seat. The man in the back seat also took the woman’s purse, while the driver took the woman’s earrings and necklace. The men then drove away, stopping to drop the woman off on the street. They tossed her wallet at her as they drove off.
The woman sought help from a neighbor who called the police. When the police arrived, she said the driver was about 25 years old, about 5 feet 6 inches or five feet seven inches tall and wearing dark clothing. She was taken to the hospital where a rape kit was prepared. Swabs were taken of her clothing as well as the carpet of her car.
On January 13, 1984, the victim helped police create composite sketches of her attackers.
On January 18, 1984, a police officer stopped a car in San Diego for a traffic violation. Sitting in the front passenger seat was 26-year-old Frederick Rene Day, who was holding an open container of alcohol. Daye said he did not have any identification and identified himself as Charles Donaldson. Ultimately, he was taken to the police station so the officer could attempt to verify his identification.
At the police station, officers learned that Donaldson was an alias that Daye had previously used. Daye admitted his real identity, allowed his photograph to be taken, and was released without being charged.
On January 23, 1984, the victim was shown a photographic lineup that included a photograph of Daye, who had a silver front tooth. She identified him as the man who got into the front seat.
Separately, Wells also identified Daye in a photographic lineup.
On January 25, 1984, Daye was arrested. He denied involvement in the crime, and was charged with one count each of rape, kidnapping, robbery and auto theft.
On March 20, 1984, Wells identified David Pringle as the man who got into the back seat of the victim’s car. Pringle was then charged with rape, kidnapping, robbery, and auto theft.
Daye went to trial on May 21, 1984 in San Diego County Superior Court. His trial was severed from Pringle’s case.
On the first day of trial, Daye asked the court to suppress the victim’s identification of his photograph and her subsequent in-court identification of him at a preliminary hearing as the product of illegally obtained photographs. After an evidentiary hearing during which the victim testified, the court denied Daye’s motion. The court found the victim's “testimony is plain and unequivocal. She recognized the defendant, and he looked like the rapist, and I think that establishes prima facie that the courtroom identification at the [preliminary hearing] was not tainted by the viewing of the photograph.”
The victim and Wells both testified and identified Daye as the man who got into the driver’s seat of the car.
A forensic analyst testified that the victim and Daye shared the same blood type, and that the same blood type was found on a stain on the victim’s pant leg. The analyst stated that the fluid was “likely” to be semen and was consistent with Daye’s blood group. The defense argued that because testing did not detect blood group substances or enzymes foreign to the victim, no one could be excluded or included because the victim’s blood group markers could be “masking” the perpetrator. In fact, the defense argued, no one could be excluded and no one could be included.
The defense called Pringle as a witness, but he invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination and did not testify.
Daye, who was an ex-Marine, did not testify, but was required to show the jury his silver tooth.
Defense witnesses testified that Daye was with his live-in girlfriend at a gathering of veterans at the time of the crime.
On June 1, 1984, the jury convicted Daye of one count each of rape, kidnapping, robbery and auto theft. He was sentenced to life in prison.
Subsequently, Pringle was convicted of the same charges and also was sentenced to life in prison.
In January 1986, the Fourth District California Court of Appeal affirmed Daye’s conviction and sentence. In May 1986, the Fourth District California Court of Appeal affirmed Pringle’s conviction and sentence.
In 1990, Pringle signed an affidavit saying that Daye was not involved in the crime. In 1992, Daye’s attorney, Carmela Simoncini, filed a motion for an evidentiary hearing and for DNA testing, but the motion was denied. On appeal, the Fourth District Court of Appeal allowed for the expenditure of $2,000 to conduct DNA testing.
On April 21, 1994, DNA tests excluded Daye as the source of semen found on the victim’s pants leg. The testing also confirmed the presence of Pringle’s DNA and pointed to a cousin of Pringle as the other attacker. The cousin, who also had a silver tooth, was never charged.
In June 1994, Daye filed a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On September 27, 1994, the petition was granted, his convictions were vacated and the case was dismissed. Daye was released after more than 10 years in prison.
Daye was later awarded $389,000 in compensation from the state of California. He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit, but it was dismissed. Daye died in 2024. He was 66 years old.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 01-26-2026
