Prosecutor In Disputed Rape Case Will Remain On Case

DENVER (CBS4) — A judge has ruled that a Denver prosecutor can remain on the case of a man who spent 28 years behind bars for a rape he says he did not commit.

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 was released from jail on bond before Christmas last year.

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.

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 defense wanted the attorney with the Denver District Attorney's Office dismissed, claiming he was biased.

The case is scheduled for a new trial but prosecutors have not decided whether the case will move forward.