DNA acquittal again

DNA trumps false identification again

A man convicted of rape in 1982 has become the 200th person in the US to be exonerated on the basis of DNA evidence, the man's lawyers said.

"I want to get on with my life ... have a life," said Jerry Miller, 48, after an appearance in Cook County Circuit Court where a judge tossed out his conviction at the request of prosecutors.

The New York-based Innocence Project, which has pursued such cases, said Miller's case marked the 200th DNA exoneration since 1989. Miller, it said, served 24 years in jail. The 200 people exonerated by DNA evidence served a total of 2,475 years in prison for crimes they didn't commit, it said. "They are just the tip of the iceberg. Nobody truly knows how many innocent people are in prison. "Only a small fraction of cases involve evidence that could be tested for DNA, and even among those cases, evidence is often lost or destroyed before it can be tested," the group said.

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Attorneys for the Innocence Project used DNA testing to prove Miller did not commit the 1981 rape. The Innocence Project says the DNA matched Robert Weeks, who is already being held in Cook County Jail for similar crimes. "We were not only able to exonerate an innocent man but the person who committed the crime was apprehended," said Barry Scheck, co-founder of the Innocence Project, and Miller's attorney.....

The Innocence Project works to help the wrongfully convicted. Scheck said Miller is the 200th person to be exonerated post-conviction because of DNA evidence. "What went wrong that allowed a totally innocent man with no criminal record, who had just finished a four year hitch in the armed forces to come out and immediately go in for 25 years for a crime he didn't commit?" said Peter Neufield, co-director of the Innocence Project. "We have to get the answer to that question or there will be too many Jerry Millers in the future."

Miller was paroled last year but was under house arrest, wearing an electronic monitoring device on his ankle. Adjusting to life on the outside was difficult. "When I first got out, my cousin asked me to put gas in the car. I stood there 10 minutes. I still didn't know what to do," Miller said. After the court hearing, authorities removed the ankle bracelet that had been monitoring Miller's movements - his final step toward true freedom.

Miller celebrated at a downtown steak house with his extended family, where he enjoyed much more than a meal. "I just walked downtown, free, a normal person, a citizen like everybody else," Miller said. Miller also enjoyed hugging his nieces and nephews for the first time. For 25 years, he was considered a sex offender and was not allowed around children.

For his trouble, the state will automatically give Jerry Miller just less than $200,000. He might file a civil rights lawsuit as others have, to try to win a bigger monetary judgment.

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The background:

On Sept. 16, 1981, the 44-year-old victim went to the roof of a parking garage at 506 N. Rush St. at about 9:30 p.m., heading home from work. According to evidence at Miller's trial, the woman was about to get into her car when a man came up behind her and shoved her inside.

The man threatened to kill her if she looked at him, she testified. She said the man beat her, robbed her, then forced her into the back seat and raped her. The attacker then forced her into the trunk and tried to drive out of the parking garage, according to testimony.

A parking lot attendant recognized the car when it pulled up to the exit and asked the driver if it was his. The man said it was, but the attendant was suspicious and ordered him to back up. When another attendant approached, the man got out of the car and fled.

The victim began banging on the lid of the trunk. The attendants heard her cries, found a set of keys on the floor of the car and rescued the woman, according to their testimony.

Shown an array of photos at a hospital, the victim said she could not positively identify her attacker. The parking lot attendants and the victim provided a description that was used to create a composite sketch.

Miller became a suspect because, days before the crime, Chicago Police Officer Kenneth Fligelman had stopped him in the 500 block of West Armitage Avenue for allegedly "looking" into parked cars, according to court records. Miller was not arrested at the time.

When the composite sketch was circulated in the Police Department, Fligelman believed it looked like Miller and brought him in for a lineup, where the two attendants identified him as the attacker. At the time, Miller had never been convicted of a crime and he was working as a cook after completing a 31/2-year hitch in the Army. Now retired, Fligelman said in an interview, "He matched the composite. My partner and I, when we saw the composite at roll call, we remembered him."

At trial, the attendants identified Miller. The victim said she thought Miller looked like her attacker, even though the attacker was described as having a few days' growth of facial hair and Miller had a full goatee.

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