After years of fighting his wrongful conviction for a 1978 murder, Michael Hanline was finally exonerated by DNA evidence. The California Innocence Project, which had been working on his case since 1999, recorded his first steps as a free man.
Before anything else, Hanline wanted to try the “burger in the commercials,” with bacon, at Carl’s Jr.
Recommended Stories
Even riding in the car was an amazing experience for the newly-free man, as he exclaimed, “This feels like I’m on the front of a rocket ship…Just an incredible rush.”
At Carl’s Jr. he ordered a mile-high burger–but had to be told what a “combo” is.
“Mm. My oh my. That’s what meat tastes like, huh?”
In 1980, Hanline was convicted to life without parole for the murder of J.T. McGarry, whom prosecutors claimed he killed over a woman they were both seeing.
His case went through many ups and downs over the years, being overturned in 2008 only to be overruled by another federal judge. He was one of the “California 12” clemency petitions submitted to Governor Brown several years ago.
After extensive investigations by CIP and the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, which produced DNA evidence in his favor and proved that documents pointing to his innocence had been withheld at the original trial, Hanline’s conviction was reversed. He was released from the Ventura County Jail on November 24, 2014.
According to CIP, his was the longest wrongful incarceration in California history and cost $1,800,000 or more.
Watch below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRYUi-8WEi0
(h/t The Blaze)
