Blame the Police - Always

Daley's policy of paying out to everyone who sues comes back to bite taxpayers in the ass. Again:

• A Chicago man freed a year ago after DNA cleared him of a rape for which he spent 12 years in prison has alleged in a federal lawsuit that he was framed by Chicago police.

  Dean Cage, 42, was convicted in 1995 of the rape of a 15-year-old girl on the South Side after she identified him in a police lineup and said she recognized his voice.

  Cage, who had just moved to Chicago from Arkansas and was working at a supermarket, was arrested a week before Thanksgiving 1994 after police said a tip stemming from a published composite sketch led them to him.

  Cage, who had no criminal record, repeatedly denied that he had committed the rape but was convicted in a bench trial and all of his appeals were denied.

So he's identified by the victim, she testifies against him, he chooses a bench trial and the judge finds the victim more credible than him. Not only that, the appellate courts also find there were no errors in the process.

But whose fault is it?

• Since being freed, Cage received a "certificate of innocence" from the state, allowing him to seek compensation for his years in prison, which he is in the process of doing, said his attorney, Jon Loevy. But last week Cage sued the City of Chicago, a police detective who investigated the rape and other unnamed officers, alleging that he was framed to simply clear the crime.

Ah yes, another Loevy case. We haven't heard that the judge is being sued. Oh wait, they're immune. What about the victim? Oh, that'd be cruel. Let's just blame the detectives who followed up on the victim's identification and testimony. Corp Counsel is probably already writing the check at Daley's direction.

And how about the CPD taking the hit for Cook County's decision to hold holiday bond court at 11am? This rule has been in effect for how many years now? But suddenly it's a giant police conspiracy? Amazing.