Meeting Dean Cage . . .
January 26th, 2009 by jmakiPosted by Laura Caldwell
I had been told by the people at The Innocence Project in New York that Dean Cage (one of our first clients) was a sweetheart of a guy. They could not have been more right. Dean suffered through 12 years in various Illinois prisons for a sexual assault he did not commit. His fiancé, Jewel, stuck by him through the entire ordeal, and they are a fantastic couple. Dean will speaking will be speaking at the launch of our project, this Wednesday at 5:00 at Loyola University Chicago, (25 East Peterson, Kasbeer Hall), along with our other clients and Johnnie lee Savory. One of those clients is Jovan Mosley.
I was lucky enough to work on Jovan’s trial a few years ago, after he had been held in a Cook County holding cell for six years, after being forced into a saying he’d thrown 2 punches in a fight that led to someone’s death. After the jury quickly gave Jovan a not-guilty verdict, Jovan had a million struggles, but he pressed on. In the three years since he was released, Jovan has gotten his associate’s degree in criminal justice and has started at Loyola in order to get bachelor’s. He plans to attend law school and be a judge. In the meantime, however, Jovan needs a little help. He works overnight as a psychiatric tech at a troubled children’s home and goes to school during the day. He is constantly on the run, but he doesn’t have a laptop, something the Life After Project is hoping to address. I also hope everyone can attend the event on Wednesday. It is open to the public. If anyone is interested in helping with the Project, please email Erica Greene at egreene@luc.edu.
(photo credit: Jennifer Linzer)