DNA clears man of rape after 12 years in prison

41-year-old 29th person in Illinois exonerated by post-conviction evidence

Illinois Department of Corrections

Dean Cage, 41, of Chicago, was exonerated Tuesday of a rape conviction.

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updated 3:23 p.m. ET May 28, 2008

CHICAGO - DNA testing has exonerated a man of a rape conviction that had kept him in an Illinois prison for more than 12 years.

The New York-based Innocence Project says Dean Cage is the 29th person in Illinois exonerated by post-conviction DNA evidence.

The 41-year-old man was released from prison late Tuesday after Chief Criminal Court Judge Paul Biebel dismissed the conviction at the request of prosecutors.

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Cage was convicted of assaulting a 15-year-old girl in 1994 and was sentenced to 40 years behind bars. He insisted he was home at the time of the attack.