May 27, 2008 3:50 pm US/Central
Convicted Rapist To Be Freed After DNA Clears Him
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
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Dean Cage was cleared by DNA evidence in the 1994 rape of a 15-year-old girl.
Fourteen years ago, a police sketch that ran in the Chicago Sun-Times led to the arrest of Dean Cage for raping a 15-year-old girl.
On Tuesday, authorities said they're preparing to free Cage from the Illinois River Correctional Center downstate after DNA tests cleared him.
In late 2006, the Cook County State's Attorney's office was contacted by the New York-based Innocence Project, which sought tests on DNA found on the victim's shirt and in a swab of her vagina, Gorman said.
Prosecutors agreed and five rounds of tests were conducted. Gorman said prosecutors learned of the results Saturday. The DNA samples ruled out Cage, but were insufficient to compare to a DNA database of criminal offenders, Gorman said.
"The case remains open," he said.
Like other criminal cases overturned in Illinois in recent years, the charges against Cage stemmed from apparently faulty witness identifications.
On Nov. 17, 1994, the Sun-Times ran a small police artist's sketch of the suspect in a 15-year-old girl's rape that happened three days earlier as she walked to the L train near 70th and Wabash, according to a newspaper account.
A woman who saw the composite sketch called Calumet Area detectives to report the suspect looked like a man who worked at a food store.
Police took the victim and her family to Ben's Food Store at 6915 S. State and the girl identified one of the employees as the offender, according to a newspaper account.
After his arrest, Cage was picked out of a lineup by a 29-year-old woman who said she was robbed and raped by him and two other men in February 1994. Cage went to trial and was found not guilty in that attack.
Over the years, Cage has insisted he had nothing to do with the rape of the 15-year-old. In 2004, he unsuccessfully sought to have a federal judge release him on grounds that he was innocent.
In a handwritten lawsuit, Cage wrote that the victim contracted venereal diseases from the offender, but tests showed Cage did not have any venereal diseases.
Cage accused his original defense lawyer, Robert Willis Jr., of ineffective assistance.
He also said he wanted DNA testing on a "rape kit" and the victim's clothing. Such testing was unavailable at the time of his trial, he said.
"Since DNA became law, 13 Death Row inmates have been proven to be actually innocent," Cage wrote. "Dean Cage is an innocent man wrongly convicted. All he seeks is to have DNA testing performed on the clothing and rape kit of the victim. Justice denied is justice delayed."
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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