Forgiveness Helps Heal Wrongfully Convicted Man and Rape Victim

The story of Loretta Zilinger and Dean Cage is about what can happen when the system fails to protect the innocent, but it also speaks to the healing power of forgiveness.

Cage spent 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting Zilinger, when she was a 15-year-old girl. DNA evidence eventually proved Cage was innocent. Experts say the way the case was handled points to flaws in our criminal justice system, mainly assumptions about race, eyewitness identification and class.

There was no physical evidence against Cage, and he had an alibi. He had no criminal record, had never even been arrested and was a gainfully employed young man. No one, except his family, though, believed he was innocent. Police-out to get a dangerous rapist off the streets-violated practices around witness identification, say Cage's lawyers.

The result was Cage losing his freedom and the chance to see his kids grow up, wed his fiancée as a free man and care for his dying mother.

When DNA evidence freed Cage, it made Zilinger feel trapped.

She didn't believe the DNA evidence and was fearful for her safety. Even when her police officer husband and Dr. Phil helped her to understand that the DNA evidence made it impossible for Cage to be her attacker, Zilinger kept saying that she felt guilty for identifying Cage as her attacker, when she was only trying to do the right thing. If it wasn't for her, Cage might have had a better relationship with his kids. He might not have witnessed the violence of prison.

In fact, the system failed Zilinger as much as it failed Cage. The victim identification process was flawed.

When both met on the Dr. Phil show, they were both carrying those burdens.

"I eventually knew I had to face him," Zilinger told CNN. "I felt guilty that I was responsible for all the years he spent in jail."

"I thought, How could this person say these terrible things about me?" Cage said. "The people I hung around knew what kind of a person I was, that I wasn't a rapist."Cage felt terrible that Zilinger had been attacked and feared him. Cage had to make it known that he was as much a victim as Zilinger.

Their perceptions changed, though, when Zilinger agreed to meet Cage on Dr. Phil's show. By the end of the difficult and emotionally draining segment, Zilinger began to accept the DNA evidence and that she did not purposely send the wrong man to jail.

The pair actually embraced on the stage.

"I hope you get the closure, and I hope you can find the person who did this," Cage said to Zilinger.

"Can you help me?" she asked.

"Can we help each other?" Cage responded.

That's what the pair are doing today. Cage and Zilinger have had lunch since the show was taped. Zilinger's brother is helping Cage look for work. Zilinger is to be a guest at Cage's May wedding to his faithful fiancee.

Cage has filed a lawsuit against the state for his wrongful incarceration, while Zilinger has asked the state to use the DNA evidence to find her real attacker. Wrongful convictions, especially of African-American and poor men, are all too common. States need to take simple steps to prevent such tragedies.

According to the Innocence Project, which helped free Cage, there have been 250 people cleared after conviction through the use of DNA evidence since 1989. At least 151 have been African American. Freedom has been won for the innocent in 34 states. The average age of those convicted is 26, and like Cage, they served an average of 12 years behind bars before being released.

Forgiveness helped spark all of this: Cage forgave Zilinger, and Zilinger forgave herself.

"She was sincere in her apology," Cage said. "I knew it was the right thing to do."

"I realized I can't always call myself a victim," Zilinger said. "I have to start calling myself a survivor."

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