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Man wrongly imprisoned for 1981 rape sues state

TITUSVILLE - A Brevard County man wrongly imprisoned for 22 years for rape has sued the state, demanding compensation for his life lost behind bars.

Wilton Dedge, 43, was released from his life sentence in August after advanced DNA testing proved Dedge did not commit the crime in 1981.

Lawmakers swore they would make restitution to Dedge, but when the legislative session ended earlier this month, nothing had been done.

Named as defendants are the state and Corrections Secretary James Crosby Jr. Dedge's parents, Walter and Mary Dedge, are plaintiffs with their son in the suit

"When a person offends against the laws of the state, he must "pay his debt to society' because he was taken from society by misconduct," the suit states. "Conversely, when a person is entirely innocent of wrongdoing and is imprisoned, it is society that owes the debt."

The lawsuit, filed Friday in Brevard Circuit Court, does not ask for a specific dollar amount.

"Let a jury decide," said attorney Sandy D'Alemberte, a former president of Florida State University who took on Dedge's case for free. "Let them understand what he experienced and how it wiped out his parents' entire retirement account."

"You can't put a price on friendship, on family, on people I'll never see again," Dedge said.

Dedge's confinement was "all the more cruel," D'Alemberte said, because the state initially balked at further DNA testing.

If the state had agreed when it was first sought in 1988, the suit says, it would have saved Dedge "16 additional years in prison."

[Last modified May 29, 2005, 01:04:12]