Accuser, ‘Rapist’ Shake Hands : Dotson and Webb Have Face-to-Face Meeting

Gary Dotson, face-to-face with the woman whose rape accusations sent him to prison six years ago, told a national television audience today that he had accepted her apology and they “shook hands.”

Dotson, 28, whose prison sentence was commuted Sunday, met Cathleen Webb, 23, in a Manhattan hotel Tuesday night and then appeared on morning network news shows.

“It was a meeting by mutual agreement,” Webb said on “Today.” “I apologized, of course. And I don’t think I can apologize enough. It came from the heart.”

Asked if he accepted her apology, Dotson replied: “Oh, yeah. We shook hands.”

“I more or less had to meet the person, “ Dotson said. “She is a different person than the one eight years ago.”

Dotson, commenting on Webb’s earlier statement that she wished she had a million dollars to give him, said, “She paid me back by coming forward.”

Webb said that despite Gov. James R. Thompson’s refusal to clear Dotson’s rape conviction, “I believe the people of America know Gary Dotson is innocent. . . . He’s not a rapist. He doesn’t have the character of a rapist.”

The governor said he would not grant a pardon because he did not believe Webb’s recantation testimony.

Webb, now the mother of two children, had lobbied for Dotson’s freedom in recent months--telling a judge, the governor and nationwide television audiences that she lied when she said he raped her in 1977. She said she fabricated a rape story because she feared she was pregnant after having sex with a teen-age boy.

Later, Dotson said he expected his friendship with Webb would continue.

“I’m sure I’ll drop her a dime occasionally,” he said, meaning he would telephone, “just to see how she and her husband are doing. I’m sure the whole thing’s been pretty rough on them.”