On January 6, 1988, a man entered a condominium in Irving, Texas, and attacked the woman living there, raping her several times over two hours before leaving.
The woman, identified as M.M., was taken to the hospital, where a rape kit was collected. She said her attacker had a scar on his cheek and a tattoo on his shoulder blade of a woman with long hair and large eyes. The police also collected the cigarette butts that the attacker had stubbed out while in M.M.’s condominium.
The crime was still unsolved four months later when the police circulated a flier about the attack in a local jail. An inmate told the Irving police that 29-year-old Gregory Wallis, who had prior convictions for robbery, had a tattoo similar to the description listed in the flyer.
The police created a photographic lineup. M.M. viewed the lineup and identified Wallis as her attacker. On May 26, 1988, Wallis was arrested. He was charged with burglary of a domicile with the intent to commit sexual assault.
In April 1989, Wallis went to trial in Dallas County District Court. He had rejected an offer to plead guilty and be sentenced to 10 years in prison.
M.M. testified and identified Wallis as her attacker.
The prosecutor asked her, “As you sit here before the jury, can you tell these folks that you were not mistaken and for a fact that this was the man who raped you?”
“Yes,” M.M. replied. “His face is emblazoned in my memory.”
Wallis testified that he was with his wife at the time of the attack. He noted that while he had a tattoo of a woman with cascading hair and large eyes, it was on his arm, not his shoulder blade. He did have a scar on his face, but it was on his forehead. Moreover, he said he didn’t smoke.
His wife also testified that he was at home at the time of the crime.
On April 20, 1989, the jury convicted Wallis of burglary of a domicile with the intent to commit sexual assault. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
His conviction was upheld on appeal.
In 2005, Michelle Moore of the Dallas County Public Defender’s Office filed a motion for DNA testing. The request was granted and the rape kit was sent to the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences (SWIFS). In December 2005, SWIFS reported that 1 in 452 people had the same portion of the DNA profile that both Wallis and the perpetrator shared.
At that point, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office offered Wallis a deal: he could be released if he would agree to register as a sex offender for life. Wallis declined.
Moore and the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office sought further testing. The rape kit and the cigarette butts were sent to Orchid Cellmark, a private DNA testing laboratory. In 2006, Cellmark reported that it had found the same male DNA profile on the cigarette butts and in the rape kit. Wallis was excluded as the source of the DNA, Cellmark reported.
Moore filed a state petition for a writ of habeas corpus. On March 21, 2006, Dallas County District Court Judge John Creuzot recommended that the writ be granted and ordered Wallis’s immediate release.
“You should not be incarcerated,” Judge Creuzot declared. “Not a moment longer.”
On January 10, 2007, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals granted Wallis’s writ and vacated his conviction. On February 13, 2007, the newly formed Conviction Integrity Unit of the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case.
Wallis was later awarded $1,426,000 in state compensation plus a monthly annuity of $7,300.
– Maurice Possley
Posting Date: 08-29-2011
Last Update Date: 07-31-2026
