Gerald Davis was convicted in 1986 of kidnapping and two counts of sexual assault. His father, Dewey Davis, was convicted of abduction, sexual abuse, and sexual assault stemming from the same incident. The victim testified that she had gone to the Davis residence in 1986 to do laundry. She considered the Davis's family friends. The victim claimed that she was taken to Gerald Davis's waterbed, where she was raped. She testified that Dewey Davis was present and did not stop his son from raping her or try to help her.

The prosecution's case seemed strong, as the victim knew the defendants. Conventional serology did not exclude Davis as the source of spermatozoa found on the victim's underwear. Items of clothing belonging to the victim were found in the Davis home. The defense could only present an alibi, which was that the two did nothing to the victim while she was doing laundry at their house.

Because Fred Zain was involved in the testing in this case, Gerald Davis was allowed to file a habeas petition with regard to the testing of evidence. The West Virginia Superior Court granted access to the evidence for the purpose of DNA testing.

The evidence was sent to the Center for Blood Research. CBR reported that they were able to obtain profiles from rape kit samples that indicated a male and female presence. Davis was excluded as a contributor to the sample. The prosecution performed another round of testing that also excluded Davis. Furthermore, testing on Gerald Davis's bedsheets and underwear failed to reveal the victim's DNA profile.

Gerald Davis was released under home confinement in 1994. The prosecution retried him under a new theory that Davis raped the victim but did not ejaculate. The jury acquitted him in 1995. His father's charges were also dropped. Father and son had, respectively, spent eight years in prison.