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Update: Dean Cage released in Chicago
Posted: May 28, 2008 12:22 pm
Innocence Project client Dean Cage was released from an Illinois prison after 10 p.m. last night, after serving nearly 12 years for a rape DNA now proves he didn’t commit. Cage was picked up by his mother and other relatives, and the group returned to their Chicago home to welcome Cage with a party in his honor.
Cage – along with members of his family, his Innocence Project lawyers, and local attorneys – will speak at a press conference today at 1:30 p.m. CST. Get details on the press conference here.
We’ll post more after the press conference.
Tags: Dean Cage
News coverage of Dean Cage's release in Chicago
Posted: May 28, 2008 5:50 pm
Dean Cage was freed last night in Illinois after serving 12 years for a crime he didn’t commit, and he spoke at a press conference this afternoon about his commitment to improving the Illinois criminal justice system so the injustice he suffered doesn’t happen to anyone else.
Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld said at the press conference that the Illinois legislature had created a commission a year ago to study wrongful convictions but has yet to appoint a single member.
“If this commission were operating as it’s supposed to, it could help prevent a substantial number of wrongful convictions and restore confidence in the state’s criminal justice system,” Neufeld said. “Perhaps most chilling is the reality that people across Illinois are still being wrongfully convicted based on eyewitness misidentification that could be prevented if the state enacted simple, straightforward reforms that are proven to work.”News coverage of Dean Cage’s release:
Read today’s Innocence Project press release.
Chicago Tribune (with video and photos): Now free, man cleared in ’94 rape talks of life in prison
CBS News: Innocent Man Cleared of Rape Charges
Fox News: DNA Clears Chicago Rape Suspect After More Than 12 Years in Priso
Chicago Sun-Times: DNA frees man convicted of rape 14 years ago
Chicago Sun-Times: Mom reacts after son freed
Associated Press: DNA frees man after 12 years in prison
Eyewitness Identification Reform Blog: Another mis-ID wrongful conviction revealed in Illinois
Tags: Dean Cage
Dean Cage adjusts to a changed world
Posted: June 3, 2008 3:55 pm
Innocence Project client Dean Cage spent nearly 12 years in Illinois prison – and another two years in jail awaiting trial – before DNA testing proved his innocence and led to his exoneration last week. Now, he is faced with the challenge of adjusting to life on the outside without any immediate support from the government. Innocence Project Staff Attorney Alba Morales discussed Cage’s case with BlackAmericaWeb.com:
"It’s a complicated time. It’s incredibly exciting to see him free. But you never can forget the 14 years he has lost and never will regain," attorney Alba Morales told BlackAmericaWeb.com.The Innocence Project Exoneree Fund support clients with vital needs after their release. Learn more and make a donation directly to the Exoneree Fund today.
"Now that he has been freed, the focus is on getting him the things he needs, like clothes and a phone," she said.
"He was released from prison with basically nothing."
Read the full story here. (BlackAmericaWeb, 06/03/08)
Tags: Dean Cage
New Video with Chicago Exoneree Dean Cage
Posted: February 17, 2009 3:55 pm
Innocence Project client Dean Cage was exonerated in May 2008 after serving more than 11 years in prison for a rape he didn’t commit. He now lives in Chicago.
Watch a new video with Cage from Loyola University’s Life After Innocence Project.
Tags: Dean Cage
A Year After His Release, Dean Cage Is Still Fighting For Justice
Posted: May 29, 2009 1:50 pm
One year ago this week, Dean Cage was freed from an Illinois prison. He had served nearly 12 years of a 40-year sentence before DNA testing obtained by the Innocence Project proved his innocence and led to his exoneration.
Above, from left to right, Innocence Project Staff Attorney Alba Morales, Dean Cage, Dean’s mother Jerley Cage and Innocence Project Co-Director Peter Neufeld.
Upon being cleared, Cage reunited with his family in Chicago. He told CBS News that “the support of [his] family, reading novels, playing basketball and faith” helped him to get through some of his toughest times in prison. Although he had missed watching his sons grow up, both of his grandparents’ funerals, and being by his mother’s side during her many surgeries, Cage felt blessed to finally be free. He said: "If you believe in something, fight for it.…The truth will come out in the end.” But Cage realized that he would face new challenges in the years to come. At the time of his release, he did not have any money or material possessions to his name.
Cage recently filed a lawsuit against the City of Chicago and others, alleging that he was framed in an effort to quickly end the investigation and reach a conviction. He told the Chicago Tribune this week that although the adjustment to life outside of prison has been difficult, he is beginning to feel more comfortable and recently started working at a restaurant on Chicago’s South Sude.
"It's been kinda rough," Cage said with his mother at his side. A scrapbook of exoneration cases he kept for years while in prison lay open before him. "If I didn't have the support of my family, I don't know what I would have done," he said.
Other Anniversaries This Week:
Tuesday: Larry Peterson, New Jersey (Served 16.5 Years, Exonerated 5/26/2006)
Willie Jackson, Louisiana (Served 17 Years, Exonerated 5/26/2006)
Wednesday: Paul Kordonowy, Montana (Served 13 Years, Exonerated 5/27/2003)
Tags: Dean Cage
Reunited After Exoneration, Part 2
Posted: October 27, 2009 2:42 pm
Visit CNN.com today to read and watch the second segment of Dean Cage and Jewel Mitchell’s inspiring story of overcoming injustice. Cage, an Innocence Project client, served more than 12 years in Illinois prisons for a rape DNA proves he didn’t commit. He and his fiancée, Mitchell, had become engaged just a few months before he was arrested.
Today’s story begins on the day in 2001 – more than five years into his 40-year sentence – that Cage told Mitchell in a prison visiting room to give up on him, to move on with her life. She refused. She knew he was innocent and she trusted that she would see him free.
In 2008, DNA testing finally proved Cage’s innocence and he was set free. The two now live together in Chicago and plan to get married soon.
"She makes me feel good," Cage told CNN. "She makes me feel happy. I don't think things would be the same without her. I don't know if I could've kept the faith all those years."Read the two-part story here.
Tags: Dean Cage
A Test of Convictions
Posted: October 26, 2009 2:05 pm
CNN.com reports today on the inspiring case of Innocence Project client Dean Cage and his fiancée, Jewel Mitchell. The two became engaged in 1994, just a few months before Cage was arrested for a sexual assault he didn’t commit. Mitchell spoke with CNN about the pain of losing her fiancé to prison and the difficult years of waiting for him:
"It was almost like he was dead," Jewel says. "That's how bad it hurt."
Last year, DNA testing proved Cage’s innocence and he was set free, after serving more than 12 years for a crime he didn’t commit. He and Mitchell were reunited, and CNN will post part two of its story tomorrow. We’ll post a link here when it’s live.
CBS News also posted a story today on Cage's case.
Read more about Cage’s case here.
Tags: Dean Cage
Friday Roundup: 250 And Counting
Posted: February 5, 2010 5:50 pm
It was a momentous week at the Innocence Project, but aside from Freddie Peacock becoming the 250th DNA exoneree in the nation, stories of injustice, exoneration and reform continued to pop up around the world.
The Griffith University Innocence Project in Australia is moving forward with DNA testing in the case of Shane David, who has been in prison for 20 years for a murder he says he didn't commit.
Innocence Project client Dean Cage appeared on the Dr. Phil show this week to discuss life after exoneration and the issue of eyewitness misidentification.
The widow of a murder victim in Albuquerque is suing the city police department, alleging that her husband was killed in part because the department had arrested the wrong people for a crime committed by the alleged perpetrator of the murder. If police hadn't been sidetracked by a false confession, she says, they could have prevented her husband's murder.
Innocence Project client Marvin Anderson was included in the NAACP's Unsung Heroes of Black History Month website.
Three exonerees spoke at a Midwest Innocence Project fundraising on Wednesday. Ken Kezer talked about the difficulties of building a life after exoneration.
The award-winning play "The Exonerated" premieres tomorrow in Long Beach, California.
For more forensic news, check out the Just Science Coalition's weekly forensic roundup, updated each Friday.
Tags: Dean Cage
Tune In: Exonerees on Dr. Phil and America’s Most Wanted
Posted: March 10, 2010 4:00 pm
Illinois exoneree Dean Cage will appear on “Dr. Phil” tomorrow, March 11, in a third installment about wrongful convictions. The host will be checking in with Cage and the victim who misidentified him over a decade ago. She first identified Cage as her attacker after the police department created a sketch of the perpetrator and then brought Cage to a grocery store so the victim could identify him. Officers then conducted another lineup at the police station, where the victim identified Cage by the sound of his voice. The show united them on-air last month for the first time since he was wrongfully convicted of a rape he didn’t commit in 1986. Cage, an Innocence Project client, spent nearly 12 years in prison and was exonerated on May 27, 2008. “Dr. Phil” is a syndicated program; please check your local listings for the station and time.
Read more about Dean Cage’s here.
For more information on the “Dr. Phil” program, click here.
New York exoneree Steven Barnes will be featured on “America’s Most Wanted” this Saturday, March 13. The program focuses on searching for the real perpetrator in the rape and murder of Kimberly Simon, for which Barnes was wrongfully convicted in 1989. His conviction was the result of eyewitness misidentification and unvalidated forensic science. The supervising criminalist testified that she conducted a photographic overlay of Simon’s jeans and an imprint on Barnes’ truck and determined the patterns were similar. She also testified that two hairs collected from the truck were similar to the victim’s hairs. The lab compared soil samples taken from his vehicle with dirt samples from the crime scene a year after the murder and stated that they had similar characteristics. Fabric print analysis, microscopic hair analysis and soil comparison and have not been scientifically validated. Represented by the Innocence Project, Barnes was exonerated 20 years later on January 9, 2009. The segment will include interviews with Barnes and his mother, details about his exoneration and information about the unsolved crime. “Americas Most Wanted” airs Saturday night at 9 p.m. on FOX.
Read more about Steven Barnes case here.
For more information on the program, click here.
Eyewitness misidentification is the single greatest cause of wrongful convictions nationwide, playing a role in more than 75% of convictions overturned through DNA testing. Learn about eyewitness identification reform here.
Unvalidated or improper forensic science is a leading cause of wrongful convictions. In approximately 50% of the DNA exonerations nationwide, unvalidated or improper forensic science contributed to the underlying wrongful conviction. Learn about unvalidated or improper forensic science here.
Tags: Steven Barnes, Dean Cage