CHICAGO (AFP) - A man who spent 25 years in jail for a rape he didn't commit had his conviction quashed on the basis of new DNA evidence Monday, bringing to 200 the number of cases overturned in similar fashion nationwide since the 1980s.
A judge vacated Jerry Millers conviction on all charges stemming from the 1981 rape of a Chicago businesswoman, after his lawyers and state prosecutors presented genetic evidence that ruled him out as the attacker.
Miller, 48, already is out of jail, having been paroled in March 2006 after serving more than half of his sentence.
Monday's finding means the conviction will be expunged from his record. He now will be removed from a list of convicted sex offenders, and no longer will be required to wear the electronic tag that was a condition of his parole.
Just as importantly, it paves the way for him to seek compensation from the state for his quarter century of incarceration.
Miller was 21 years old and fresh from a stint in the army when he was fingered as the assailant in a brazen attack on a 44-year-old woman in a downtown Chicago garage late one night in September, 1981.
The attacker surprised the woman as she was about to enter her car. He beat, robbed and raped her, and then forced her into the trunk of her car.
With the victim still in the trunk, the assailant tried to drive the vehicle out of the garage, but was forced to flee on foot when confronted by two parking attendants.
DNA testing was not available when Miller was convicted of the attack in the early 1980s and sentenced to 45 years in jail for rape, robbery, and aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery.
His conviction turned largely on what proved to be flawed eyewitness testimony, which is at fault in many wrongful conviction cases according to the Innocence Project, a non-profit legal clinic that helped to clear his name.
During his two and a half decades behind bars, Miller says he wrote hundreds of letters to lawyers, journalists and others seeking help.
It was one such letter to the Innocence Project that led to a request for the DNA testing that ultimately exposed his case as a miscarriage of justice.
In summary if you don't want to read all of it, Imus goes to Al Sharpton's radio show. Why when rich people get in trouble with something they always go to a place where they feel like they will be forgiven. I just said a racist remark, let me go to the leading African American guy that people like to show that I might call black women Nappy Headed Ho's doesn't mean I'm racist. I was referring to an episode of Golden Girls. I kind of remember Mel Gibson (that Thunderdome guy) made some racist remarks too towards the Jewish. And let's not forget the fallen Michael Richards. But I digress, here's story number one and story number two is after it.NEW YORK - Don Imus' racist remarks got him fired by CBS on Thursday, the finale to a stunning fall for one of the nation's most prominent broadcasters.
Imus was initially suspended for two weeks after he called the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy-headed hos" on the air last week. But outrage kept growing and advertisers kept bolting from his CBS radio show and its MSNBC simulcast, which was canceled Wednesday.
"There has been much discussion of the effect language like this has on our young people, particularly young women of color trying to make their way in this society," CBS President and Chief Executive Officer Leslie Moonves said in announcing the decision. "That consideration has weighed most heavily on our minds as we made our decision."
Imus, 66, had a long history of inflammatory remarks. But something struck a raw nerve when he targeted the Rutgers team — which includes a class valedictorian, a future lawyer and a musical prodigy — after they lost in the NCAA championship game.
A spokeswoman for the team said it did not have an immediate comment on Imus' firing. But Imus was scheduled to meet with the team Thursday evening at the governor's mansion in Princeton, N.J., and the team was seen entering the mansion.
He was fired in the middle of a two-day radio fundraiser for children's charities. CBS announced that Imus' wife, Deirdre, and his longtime newsman, Charles McCord, will host Friday's show.
The cantankerous Imus, once named one of the 25 Most Influential People in America by Time magazine and a member of the National Broadcasters Hall of Fame, was one of radio's original shock jocks. His career took flight in the 1970s and with a cocaine- and vodka-fueled outrageous humor. After sobering up, he settled into a mix of highbrow talk about politics and culture, with locker room humor sprinkled in.
He issued repeated apologies as protests intensified. But it wasn't enough as everyone from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) to Oprah Winfrey joined the criticism.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson met with Moonves on Thursday to demand Imus' removal.
Jackson called the firing "a victory for public decency. No one should use the public airwaves to transmit racial or sexual degradation."
Said Sharpton: "He says he wants to be forgiven. I hope he continues in that process. But we cannot afford a precedent established that the airways can commercialize and mainstream sexism and racism."
In a memo to staff members, Moonves said the firing "is about a lot more than Imus."
"He has flourished in a culture that permits a certain level of objectionable expression that hurts and demeans a wide range of people," Moonves said. "In taking him off the air, I believe we take an important and necessary step not just in solving a unique problem, but in changing that culture, which extends far beyond the walls of our company."
It's also likely to trigger a wider debate about expression and forgiveness. Some of Imus' fans have pointed to inflammatory statements made by Sharpton and Jackson in the past, or in the lyrics of popular music.
Losing Imus will be a financial hit to CBS Radio, which also suffered when Howard Stern departed for satellite radio. The program earns about $15 million in annual revenue for CBS, which owns Imus' home radio station WFAN-AM and manages Westwood One, the company that syndicates the show nationally. One potential replacement: the sports show "Mike & the Mad Dog," which airs afternoons on WFAN.
The radiothon had raised more than $1.3 million Thursday before Imus learned that he had lost his job. The annual event has raised more than $40 million since 1990.
"This may be our last radiothon, so we need to raise about $100 million," Imus cracked at the start of the event.
Volunteers were getting about 200 more pledges per hour than they did last year, with most callers expressing support for Imus, said phone bank supervisor Tony Gonzalez. The event benefited Tomorrows Children's Fund, the CJ Foundation for SIDS and the Imus Ranch.
Imus, whose suspension was supposed to start next week, was in the awkward situation of broadcasting Thursday's radio program from the MSNBC studios in New Jersey, even though NBC News said the night before that MSNBC would no longer simulcast his program on television.
He didn't attack MSNBC (a unit of NBC Universal, owned by General Electric Co.) for its decision — "I understand the pressure they were under," he said — but complained the network was doing some unethical things during the broadcast. He didn't elaborate.
Sponsors that pulled out of Imus' show included American Express Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Staples Inc., Procter & Gamble Co. and General Motors Corp. Imus made a point Thursday to thank one sponsor, Bigelow Tea, for sticking by him.
The list of his potential guests began to shrink, too.
Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham said the magazine's staffers would no longer appear on Imus' show. Meacham, Jonathan Alter, Evan Thomas, Howard Fineman and Michael Isikoff from Newsweek have been frequent guests.
Imus has complained bitterly about a lack of support from one black politician, Harold Ford Jr., even though he strongly backed Ford's campaign for Senate in Tennessee last year. Ford, now head of the Democratic Leadership Council, said Thursday he'll leave it to others to decide Imus' future.
"I don't want to be viewed as piling on right now because Don Imus is a good friend and a decent man," Ford said. "However, he did a reprehensible thing."
Imus' troubles have also affected his wife, whose book "Green This!" came out this week. Her promotional tour has been called off "because of the enormous pressure that Deirdre and her family are under," said Simon & Schuster publicist Victoria Meyer.
People are buying it, though: An original printing of 45,000 was increased to 55,000.
Imus still has a lot of support among radio managers across the country, many of whom grew up listening to him, said Tom Taylor, editor of the trade publication Inside Radio.
Rutgers' team, meanwhile, appeared Thursday on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" with their coach, C. Vivian Stringer.
At the end of their appearance, Winfrey said: "I want to borrow a line from Maya Angelou, who is a personal mentor of mine and I know you all also feel the same way about her. And she has said this many times, and I say this to you, on behalf of myself and every woman that I know, you make me proud to spell my name W-O-M-A-N."
Now what you've all been waiting for!CHICAGO -- The Rutgers' women's basketball team and coach C. Vivian Stringer were scheduled to appear on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" Thursday as furor continues over remarks made about the team by radio host Don Imus.
Stringer and the 10 team members will appear live via satellite, a spokeswoman for Harpo Productions Inc. said Wednesday night.
Imus triggered an uproar April 4 when he referred to the mostly black Rutgers team as "nappy-headed hos" on his nationally syndicated radio show.
The team spoke publicly for the first time Tuesday about the on-air comments, made the day after the team lost the NCAA championship game to Tennessee, calling them insensitive and hurtful.
MSNBC on Wednesday said it will drop its simulcast of "Imus in the Morning," after a growing list of sponsors said they were pulling ads. CBS Corp. has suspended Imus without pay for two weeks beginning Monday.
When retired policeman Andy Key went on a trip to Rome, he was struck by the beauty of sunlight streaming through a window in the Vatican. 
