Chicago man jailed for 14 years - but he's innocent

Eyewitness ID again

DNA tests have exonerated a Chicago man who has served nearly 14 years in prison for the sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl who was attacked in the autumn of 1994 as she walked to school. Dean Cage, 41, was convicted by a jury and sentenced to 40 years in prison despite his assertions that he was innocent and was home at the time of the attack.

Lawyer Peter Neufeld, co-founder of the New York-based Innocence Project, which investigates wrongful convictions, said that he was informed by the Cook County state's attorney's office that it had the case dismissed after DNA tests eliminated Cage as the victim's attacker. Cage, who has been confined to the Illinois River Correctional Centre in Downstate Canton, is expected to be released within 24 hours, Neufeld said.

The exoneration of Cage is the 29th such case of innocence in Illinois and the 217th DNA exoneration in the nation, according to the Innocence Project. The case is another example of an erroneous eyewitness identification leading to a wrongful conviction, Neufeld said. More than 75 per cent of the wrongful convictions that have resulted through DNA testing involved faulty eyewitness testimony, he said.

The victim had testified in a trial before Circuit Judge Michael Bolan that she was walking to catch a bus about 6:25 am on Nov. 14, 1994, when a man wearing blue jeans, a black leather jacket and a hat with a snap on it grabbed her and dragged her between two porches of an apartment building. She was then slammed against a wall and sexually assaulted, she said. After her attacker fled, she ran into the street where a newspaper truck driver saw her and notified police, according to trial testimony.

A computer-generated composite sketch was circulated in the neighbourhood and about a week later a tipster told police that a possible suspect worked at a meat-packing plant nearby. Police took the victim to the business, where Cage was employed. The woman identified him as her attacker, according to trial testimony. Cage testified at the trial that he was home on the morning of the crime and did not leave until about 7:30am

Original report here


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