As a Denver judge read the words “not guilty” Monday afternoon, Clarence Moses-EL tapped his fist to his mouth, as if suppressing the urge to shout for joy inside the somber courtroom.

For 29 years, Moses-EL had insisted he did not rape and beat a neighbor in 1987. After 28 years in prison, two trials, lost DNA evidence and an accuser who identified him in a dream, he was vindicated.

“It’s over!” someone yelled as Moses-EL walked out of a courtroom at Denver’s Lindsey-Flanigan courthouse, where about a dozen supporters cheered and applauded.

The not guilty verdict on charges of first-degree sexual assault, second-degree assault and second-degree burglary ended a long, painful saga for Moses-EL. But it also left a 29-year-old rape unsolved and a victim who will not see justice.

Standing outside the courthouse wearing a suit and tie and wire-rimmed glasses, Moses-EL said: “I feel so different than I’ve ever felt in life. I just feel good.”

He went on to say, “This moment is a moment I’ve fought for for a long time.”

The jury of eight women and four men received the case Thursday afternoon but did not deliberate in earnest until Monday morning because of the three-day weekend.

Despite the long weekend, Moses-EL said he kept telling his family that he had not come so far only to lose once again in court.

“Psychologically, a lot of things were eating at my head,” he said. “I just said, ‘Do not let this get to me.’ ”

From the beginning, Moses-EL insisted he was innocent and the victim falsely identified him. On Monday, he said he would rather have spent the full sentence of 48 years in prison than accept a plea bargain for a crime he did not commit.

He was released from prison last December and given another chance in front of a jury. In the past three decades, the case has had many twists and turns in which evidence was destroyed, another man confessed to the attack and then recanted, a new trial was ordered, and prosecutors pushed forward with it.

District Attorney Mitch Morrissey, who leaves office in January, was criticized for pressing ahead with a second trial.

On Monday, Chief Deputy District Attorney Bonnie Benedetti, who oversaw the prosecution, said her office could not reach a resolution on the case with Moses-EL’s defense attorneys. And the victim was adamant they move forward.

“She is very disappointed,” Benedetti said about an hour after the verdict was reached. “She has maintained throughout the years that she saw and recognized the person who attacked her, and she stands by that.”

Prosecutors argued forcefully for their case, calling the victim and a neighbor who did not testify during the original trial. The victim told the jury she recognized Moses-EL when the attacker briefly turned on a light in her home, although she didn’t identify him to police until days later because, Benedetti argued, trauma made it difficult for her to get the words out.

Defense attorneys, though, argued with equal passion that Moses-EL was falsely identified. They noted the victim had been drinking the night of the attack and she had been battered repeatedly in the face. When police first asked her about the attacker, she had said she didn’t get a good look at him but described the man as having a hairstyle that Moses-EL did not. And, she has said the identification of Moses-EL — with whom she had feuded — came to her in a dream.

A key figure in the case was LC Jackson, a convicted rapist who had testified under oath that he had sex with and also struck the victim on the night and time of the attack.

He did not testify in the Moses-EL trial.

Jackson will not be prosecuted because the statute of limitations has run out, Benedetti said.

“Mr. Jackson has recanted his confession to us a number of times,” she said. “Each time he has told us he lied and he had no relationship to the victim in this case.”

Outside the courthouse Monday, Moses-EL said he held no animosity toward the victim who accused him or toward the district attorney’s office for twice trying the case.

“I’m not holding a grudge,” he said. “All I ever wanted from the beginning was the truth to come out. ”

The years in prison were difficult, and Moses-EL said he is still trying to rebuild his life.

“Truthfully speaking, a person who is not mentally disciplined and a person is who is not grounded in something positive would commit suicide,” he said.

Instead, he focused on his case and what it would take to clear his name.

“I was always burning the midnight oil, studying and reading,” he said of his time in prison. “I said: ‘I’ve got to get ready for court. I’ve got to prove my innocence.’ So, I never really could find time for rest.”

Now, Moses-EL said he hopes his case can be a learning experience for those in the criminal justice system. He is willing to participate to make it better.

Gail Johnson, an attorney on his defense team, said she looked forward to having a constructive conversation about criminal justice reform with Beth McCann, the newly elected Denver District Attorney.

As Moses-EL finished speaking with the media, he walked away arm-in-arm with his family and defense team. Where he stood, someone had used chalk to write messages about the justice system on the sidewalk.

“This Moses just got to the promised land,” attorney Eric Klein said as he hugged his client.