May 28, 2008 4:53 pm US/Central
DNA Frees Man Jailed For 14 Years
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Dean Cage was cleared by DNA evidence in the 1994 rape of a 15-year-old girl.
After nearly 14 years behind bars for a crime he didn't commit, Dean Cage is a free man today. CBS 2's Roseanne Tellez reports that he's now the 29th person in Illinois to be exonerated through DNA testing.
"There's a god up there and he's blessed me. It's over with," Cage said today.
Surrounded by family, he thanked the attorneys who helped free him after nearly 14 years behind bars. Cage said it was other inmates who told him about the Innocence Project.
"They might be slow but don't give up on them," Cage said.
It was 1994 when a tipster saw a police sketch of a rapist and led police to Cage. The victim herself identified him after the detective investigating the rape took her to Cage's workplace.
Peter Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project said that was mistake number one. "More often than not the police officer believes a person is the actual perpetrator and he will either deliberately or unwittingly convey those beliefs and prejudices to the eyewitness and victim," Neufeld said.
Advocates for the wrongfully convicted said this was the 57th erroneous eyewitness identification in Illinois. They said officers in charge of lineups should not be told who the suspect is.
Rob Warden, Director of the Center on Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University, said, "Some of these convictions might have been averted if we'd had better eyewitness procedures in place."
Cage was convicted despite having an alibi from his fiancée, and the lack of any physical evidence tying him to the crime. But advances in technology allowed for DNA testing on biological matter that couldn't be tested back in 1994.
Cage's mother, Jerley Cage, said, "They stole my son's life. They stole mine too."
But Dean Cage's family never gave up hope and last night, after a drive to Canton, Ill., to pick him up from prison, it was time to celebrate.
"We had a party last night. I got up this morning and fixed his favorite dish, potatoes and onions," Jerley Cage said.
The Innocence project is now calling on Gov. Rod Blagojevich to grant Cage a pardon, clearing the way for him to receive $150,000 in compensation from the state. But they say the governor now has eight such petitions in front of him, and has not acted on any of them.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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