Jerry Miller

The Crime

Shortly after 9:30 p.m. on Sept. 16, 1981, a 44-year-old white female walked to her car on the roof deck of a parking garage in the 500 block of Rush Street in Chicago. As she opened the car door, a Black man pushed her into the car and raped her. 

The man then forced her into the trunk of the car and tried to drive out of the garage onto Rush Street. At the exit, the garage cashier recognized the victim’s car and told the driver to back up.  

When another cashier approached, the rapist fled on foot and garage employees freed the victim. She was taken to the hospital. Due to the violent nature of the assault, doctors determined it was impossible to collect a rape kit. However, they did find blood and semen on some of her clothing, and these items were taken into evidence.

The Investigation

The victim, identified as R.S., informed the police that she was not certain she would be able to identify her assailant because she had been ordered to keep her eyes closed. However, both of the garage attendants provided descriptions of the assailant and worked with a police artist to create a composite sketch. 

A police officer who saw the sketch thought it resembled 22-year-old Jerry Miller, whom the officer claimed to have seen several days earlier looking into the window of a parked car. 

Although Mr. Miller had no criminal record — he was working as a cook after completing a hitch in the U.S. Army — he was arrested and put into a police lineup. The two garage employees identified him as the man they had seen jump out of the victim’s car and flee. R.S. failed to identify Mr. Miller from a photographic lineup, which she was shown in the hospital.

Mr. Miller was charged with sexual assault, robbery, and kidnapping.

The Trial

In September 1982, Mr. Miller went to trial in Cook County Circuit Court before a jury and Judge Thomas Maloney. 

R.S. testified that Mr. Miller looked like the man who raped her, although his facial hair was different.

The Chicago Police Dept Crime Laboratory’s microanalyst, Raymond Lenz, testified that he had discovered the presence of blood and sperm on the victim’s clothing. He confirmed it was human blood, but gave no testimony that included or excluded Mr. Miller as the source of the blood or sperm.

Mr. Miller’s father testified that they were watching a pay-per-view boxing match between Tommy Hearns and Sugar Ray Leonard at the time of the crime.  

On Oct. 1, 1982, Mr. Miller was convicted of rape, robbery, aggravated battery, and aggravated kidnapping. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison.

Over the next 18 years, Mr. Miller lost all his appeals.  

The Exoneration

In 2005, the Innocence Project accepted Mr. Miller’s case and sought DNA testing on one of the items collected from the crime scene. In May 2006, while DNA testing was being performed by California DNA laboratory Forensic Science Associates, Mr. Miller was released on parole.  

On March 27, 2007, Dr. Edward Blake of Forensic Science Associates reported that Mr. Miller was excluded as the source of the blood and sperm. 

Subsequently, the DNA profile from the evidence was identified as that of Robert Weeks, who was already in prison on two other similar sex offenses. Mr. Weeks could not be prosecuted for the crime because the statute of limitations had expired.

On April 20, 2007, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Innocence Project filed a joint motion to vacate Mr. Miller’s convictions and to dismiss the case. On April 23, 2007, the motion was granted.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich granted him a pardon based on innocence, paving the way for Mr. Miller to receive $199,000 in compensation from the state of Illinois.

Mr. Miller filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Chicago, police officers, and forensic analyst Mr. Lenz. The lawsuit argued that the police had failed to disclose that Mr. Miller had been excluded as the source of fingerprints in the victim’s car. In addition, Mr. Lenz had not disclosed a report of a serological analysis of blood found on the victim’s clothing. Although the report had said the results were inconclusive, the testing actually had excluded Mr. Miller.

Three years later, the city of Chicago settled the civil rights suit for $6.3 million.