Clarence Moses-EL: After 28 years inside, US man jailed for a rape he claims he never committed is finally freed

60-year-old was greeted by his children and 12 grandchildren - none of whom he has ever met - outside the courthouse

Clarence Moses-EL stands with three of his grandchildren after his release from the Denver County jail (AP)

A man who served 28-years for a crime he says he did not commit has taken his first breath of freedom.

A man who served 28-years for a crime he says he did not commit has taken his first breath of freedom.

Clarence Moses-EL was convicted of the brutal rape of a woman in the Denver’s Five Point neighbourhood in 1987 and sentenced to 48 years in prison, despite protesting his innocence from the first.

Leaving he courthouse on Tuesday, Moses-EL said: “I just want to get home with my family” and that he could not wait to meet all 12 of his grandchildren.

While imprisoned, Moses-EL had banned his grandchildren from visiting him.

Outside the courtroom, one of his grandsons wrapped his arms round the 60-year-old’s legs and told him: “I’m glad you’re home.”

The rape case was brought by Moses-EL’s then-neighbour, whose identity has not been established in media reports, who claimed she dreamt his identity following the brutal attack.

She sustained six bone fractures to her face, loosing vision in one eye and said she had been beaten, drugged and raped, in her original statement to Denver police.

Although Moses-EL has always protested his innocence, attempts to re-try his case failed after authorities – violating a court ruling – destroyed the case’s DNA evidence.

But a letter from an inmate, LC Jackson, in 2013 offered hope when he appeared to confess to the crime.

Jackson, already imprisoned for another rape, said: “I don’t really know what to say to you”.

"But let's start by bringing what was done in the dark into the light. I have a lot on my heart. I don't know who working [sic] on this, but have them come up and see me. It's time."

While Jackson later recanted his statement, DNA testing showed Moses-EL had a different blood-type to that of the attacker and that Jackson – in jail for the rape of a mother and daughter – had originally been named by the victim as a possible attacker. This evidence appears to have been ignored by the Denver prosecution.