DNA Clears Man Convicted in 1982 Rape Case

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s office joined with the Public Defender’s office and the Innocence Project today to vacate a 1982 conviction in a rape case.

The facts of the case were:

Defendant, Jerry Miller, was convicted of rape, aggravated kidnapping and robbery after a jury trial before Judge Thomas Maloney in September 1982.  He was sentenced to concurrent terms of 45 years for rape and aggravated kidnapping and 7 years for robbery. The defendant was paroled on March 20, 2006 and currently has approximately 2 years mandatory supervised release remaining.

The crimes occurred as the victim, a then 44 year old woman, walked to her car after work at about 9:30 p.m. on September 16, 1981. The victim worked near the parking garage located at 506 N. Rush Street in Chicago where she had been a regular monthly parker for several years.  The victim approached her car, deactivated the alarm and opened the driver’s door.  At that time her attacker pushed the victim onto the front seat.  He choked her, beat her about the face and threatened to kill her.  He also ordered her to keep her eyes closed.  After taking $7.00 from the victim’s purse and pulling off her jewelry, the offender forced her into the back seat.  The offender then forced vaginal intercourse upon the victim while repeatedly threatening to kill her.

After completing the sexual assault, the offender took the victim’s keys and parking pass.  He forced the victim into the trunk of her own car and attempted to drive out of the parking facility.  One of the cashiers recognized the car as belonging to the victim and ordered the offender to stop, at which time he put the car in park and fled on foot.  The victim began banging on the trunk lid and screaming and was released by the cashier.  The police were called and the victim was taken to the hospital.

Hospital personnel were unable to collect a vaginal swab from the victim due to a laceration to her vagina that was bleeding profusely.  In addition to requiring surgery to her vagina, the victim suffered a fractured nose and swelling all over her face.  The victim’s left eye was swollen shut.  The victim’s clothing was collected and given to the police.

Jerry Miller, age 23, was arrested on September 19, 1981, based upon his resemblance to a composite sketch created with descriptions provided by the aforementioned cashier and another parking lot employee.  He was subsequently identified in lineups by the parking lot attendants.  The victim was still hospitalized and unable to view a lineup.  The victim testified at trial that Jerry Miler looked like the man who attacked her.  Miller has consistently denied his involvement in this attack.  

The Chicago Police Crime Lab identified sperm on the victim’s slip.  Blood type analysis on the apparent semen stain was inconclusive.  The victim’s clothing and original laboratory extracts were impounded by the Clerk after trial.

The State’s Attorney’s Office agreed to post-conviction DNA testing in July 2006 based on a verbal request by the Innocence Project of New York.  After an initial evaluation by the Illinois State Police Forensic Science Center, the victim’s clothing was sent to Strand Analytical Laboratory in Indianapolis for DNA testing.  On March 28, 2007, the SAO was notified via telephone that Jerry Miller was excluded as the contributor of a DNA profile found on the victim’s slip.

The victim maintains that she had not been sexually active for many months prior to the attack.  The source of the sperm, therefore, would not be expected to be a consensual partner.  Both eyewitnesses are now deceased.

Miller was also charged with the sexual assault of an acquaintance in May 1981, but no further action was taken after a finding of no probable cause in a preliminary hearing. Miller was sentenced to 2 years I.D.O.C. for possession of a weapon while in a correctional facility in 1998.

On April 12, 2007, the State Police CODIS Administrator notified the SAO that the profile from the victim’s slip matched a profile from the offender database.  The offender’s name is Robert Weeks, who is currently charged with two pending sex offenses.  A third case is under investigation.

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