Man Who Spent 28 Years Behind Bars Released
DENVER (CBS4) — A man who has spent 28 years behind bars for a rape he says he did not commit was released from jail on Tuesday afternoon.
Clarence Moses-EL was convicted in 1988 after the victim said his face appeared to her in a dream, but a judge vacated his conviction last week after another inmate said he had sex with the woman.
Moses-EL has long maintained his innocence, and his case inspired legislation requiring preservation of DNA evidence in major felony cases for a defendant's lifetime after police threw out body swabs and the victim's clothing.
The judge on Tuesday set bail at $50,000, and supporters said they posted the money they had raised. Moses-EL was formally released from custody about 4:40 p.m. Tuesday.
Moses-EL's supporters and his wife hugged him and wiped away tears.
"My spirituality, that's what really kept me going. And my innocence. That's what I can say right now, that's what really kept me going," said Moses-EL after he walked out a free man after posting bond.
"I'm just so happy and excited... I'm happy," said Moses-EL's wife, Stephanie Moses. "I'm his wife and I've been waiting all these years and now he's coming home."
Moses-EL was sentenced to 48 years in prison in the attack against a woman after she returned home from a night of drinking. When police initially asked who assaulted her, she named the man who later confessed.
More than a day later, while in the hospital, the woman identified Moses-EL as her attacker, saying his face came to her in a dream.
DNA might have helped his case but the Denver Police Department accidentally destroyed it after the trial, although prosecutors say it was never used in the case.
"After the testing was ordered, the police threw the DNA evidence in the dumpster depriving Mr. Moses-EL of that opportunity almost two decades ago," said Moses-EL's attorney Eric Klein.
Moses-EL's break came when L.C. Jackson, who the victim had initially identified as her rapist, wrote to Moses-EL in 2013 saying he had sex with the woman that night. Jackson has not been charged in this case but remains imprisoned for two other rapes in 1992.
The Denver District Attorney's Office has not decided whether to prosecute Moses-EL again but reserved a trial date in June if they choose to proceed.
The DA's office met with the victim on Monday and say they will advocate for her.
"This is a woman who was so brutally beaten through the sex assault that she still has disfigurement today," said DA spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough. "The next steps will be to take a look at the status of evidence after all these years and what witnesses are still alive and available."
