DENVER -- A 36-year-old man who was cleared of murder by new DNA test results learned Friday that the Larimer County district attorney will dismiss all charges against him.

Timothy Masters will not have to face another trial for now, District Attorney Larry R. Abrahamson said. In court documents, he requested Masters' bond be released and the Feb. 5 hearing be vacated.

"Yeah, this is the big thing. This is the big thing. This is the final thing that was hanging over my head. So now, it's officially done," Masters said just minutes after getting the statement from Abrahamson.

The dismissal was based on "newly discovered evidence that justifies further investigation, namely DNA test results which were not available at the time of Peggy Hettrick's murder in 1987, nor at the time of Timothy Master's original trial and conviction in 1999," Abrahamson said.

However, prosecutors are not ready to totally clear him.

"It should be made clear that the DNA test results do not exonerate anyone from consideration ... The DNA test results from the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, using a new testing procedure that only became available to their agency during the summer of 2007, warrants a further investigation of the Peggy Hettrick homicide .... Contrary to news reports, the DNA testing results only suggest that there may be others, along with Timothy Masters, who should be investigated. These test results do not provide us with enough information to completely exonerate anyone," he said.

Masters wasn't sure what to make of that statement.

"Yeah, that's ... I don't even think I'm going to comment on that," he said.

Abrahamson said to avoid any perceived appearance of bias or conflict, he has requested that the governor appoint Attorney General John Suthers to conduct the investigation into Hettrick's murder, re-examine all the evidence, and conduct the subsequent prosecution, if necessary.

Gov. Bill Ritter is considering the request and will answer early next week.

Meanwhile, the identity crisis is over for Masters. Police returned his birth certificate, Social Security cards, two bibles and other personal items, allowing him to get his driver's license.

Masters took his driving test Friday morning and passed.

"I mean, that's a stepping stone to everything else," an animated Masters said earlier Friday afternoon. "You can't do anything in this country without identification."

He passed his written test.

"The questions were easy. I was upset I missed three questions. I thought I had them all," Masters said.

Functioning on three hours of sleep, Masters was excited to take the driving portion of the exam later in the day.

When asked what kept him going while in prison as lawyers worked on several appeal attempts, Masters said it wasn't faith.

"I was pretty much an atheist before I went to prison. I became a Christian while I was there. And then, after year after year of nothing, I became agnostic. So, I lost faith," Masters said. "It's hard to keep faith in God when you're sitting there day after day just praying for him to get you out of there, to let the truth come out and nothing happens."

He has become a bit of a celebrity in Northern Colorado, receiving gift cards and boxes of gifts from anonymous supporters. He recalls one box in particular sent by a woman he doesn't know who wrote a nice note about giving him everything he missed while he was in prison.

"'You said that you'd never touched an MP3 player. So here's an MP3 player ... ' It's just incredible," Masters said.