Denver's being sued by a man who was wrongfully imprisoned for 28 years. Clarence Moses-EL has filed a civil rights complaint against the city and eight different officials. His sentence for a 1988 rape was vacated in 2015 after another man confessed. Then, Moses-EL was retried and found not guilty.
Moses-EL proclaimed his innocence throughout the nearly three decades he was behind bars. He spoke with Colorado Matters about filing the lawsuit -- along with asking for compensatory and punitive damages. One of Moses-EL's attorneys, Eric Klein, said his client is also asking to be paid under a state 2013 law that provides $70,000 for every year someone is wrongly incarcerated.
A spokeswoman for the city said that as of Friday, they had not yet been served with the lawsuit.
“Once we receive the complaint, we will evaluate the claims and respond to them,” said Jenna Espinoza, deputy communications director for Mayor Michael Hancock’s office.
