ST. LOUIS - Just a little over a week ago, Johnny Briscoe met with his sister and mother in the visiting area at the state prison in Charleston and admitted he was depressed at the prospect that he might never get out of prison.

For years, Briscoe had proclaimed he didn't commit the 1982 rape in the St. Louis suburb of Maryland Heights. His appeals fell on deaf ears, and his requests for parole were ignored.

On Thursday, Briscoe was again surrounded by his mother and sister, this time at a news conference, a day after his release after DNA evidence proved he didn't commit the crime.

"I am saddened for the all the I spent in which my family -- my children, my grandchildren -- I never got a chance to hold them," Briscoe, now 52, said, often pausing to halt the tears. "It's been a long, hard struggle, but I held strong."

Briscoe spent Wednesday at his mother's home in St. Louis. He slept little but enjoyed home cooking -- chicken, fish, even egg-foo young. Mostly, he was just happy to be home.

"There's not enough money in the world to compensate me for what I lost. Precious time has passed that I could have spent with my family," he said.

Under a law passed this year, Briscoe would be eligible for up to $36,500 in compensation from the state for each year he was wrongly incarcerated, but he must agree not to file suit. Briscoe said he hasn't yet thought about the money.

St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch called the incarceration a "terrible mistake," one made worse by the county crime lab's failure to locate evidence when McCulloch and others first requested a review six years ago.

The rape occurred on Oct. 21, 1982. A man was burglarizing the victim's apartment, and when she awoke, he raped her.

After the attack, the rapist stayed for about an hour and spoke with the victim in a well-lit room, telling her his name was John Briscoe. McCulloch said the rapist and Briscoe knew each other.

"I challenge any police officer to present to me any case where the real rapist identified himself with his own name," said Jim McCloskey, director of Centurion Ministries, who took up Briscoe's cause about a decade ago.

The victim and rapist shared a Kool cigarette and the rapist asked to call on her again.

He did, as police were at the apartment. They traced the call to a pay phone near Briscoe's home. The woman later provided details for a composite drawing that looked like Briscoe and picked his picture out of a lineup.

When first accused of the rape, Briscoe said he thought it was a joke. He said his defense attorney never met with him, and Briscoe, who is black, was convicted by an all-white jury.

Briscoe spent his years in prison playing handball and doing research on his own case. He contacted McCloskey's New Jersey-based organization, which seeks justice for innocent people wrongly imprisoned. In 2000, McCloskey wrote a letter seeking a review of DNA evidence.

Around that time, McCulloch decided to look at about 10 past cases in which DNA evidence might now be available. He asked the crime lab to look at the old evidence, but none could be found.

But during an inventory in 2004, three cigarette butts from Briscoe's case were found in a freezer. Two contained only the DNA of the victim; a third contained saliva of both the victim and the rapist.

In a written statement Thursday, St. Louis County Police Chief Jerry Lee apologized for the failure to find the evidence earlier.

Briscoe is the third inmate whose case originated in St. Louis County to be exonerated in recent years. Steve Toney served nearly 14 years in prison for a 1983 conviction of forcible rape and sodomy before being released in 1996. DNA evidence also proved his innocence.