Michael Hanline, wrongly

convicted in 1978 killing,

freed

A wrongfully convicted man who spent 36 years behind bars in California was set free in November.

Amanda Covarrubias
Michael Hanline's release in 1978 killing ends a 15-year effort by California Innocence Project and his
wife

When he first stepped outside, Michael Hanline looked up at the sky as if for
the first time.
Wearing a dark sweatshirt with "XONER8" across the front, his white hair
pulled into a ponytail and a cane in hand, California's longest-serving
wrongfully convicted inmate walked out of jail Monday a free man.
His wife, Sandee, had brought him his cowboy boots, which she had kept clean
and shiny over the last three decades, but they would not fit over his GPS
ankle bracelet. Instead, he wore white sneakers.
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Hanline, 69, was released from the Ventura County jail after most recently
serving time at California State Prison, Solano, ending a 15-year effort by his
attorneys with the California Innocence Project and his wife to free him after
he was convicted in 1980 of murdering his friend and associate J.T. McGarry.

Michael Hanline shows the ankle monitoring device he must wear after he leaves the Ventura County Jail after his
conviction was vacated in Ventura County Superior Court. (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

"I feel like I'm in front of a missile and things are just flying by," Hanline said,
holding Sandee's hand outside the jail. "It's incredible."
The Ventura County district attorney's office said in court documents two
weeks ago that interviews with several people over the last few months
suggested others had motives and the means to kill McGarry and
acknowledged the case against Hanline was flawed.
"We were no longer comfortable with the conviction," Senior Deputy Dist.
Atty. Michael Lief said Monday after Superior Court Judge Donald Coleman
approved Hanline's release.

I didn't think what happened to me could happen in

America, but it did.- Michael Hanline, California's longest-serving wrongfully
convicted inmate

Hanline was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison

without the possibility of parole in 1980, two years after the shooting death of
Ventura resident McGarry, also known as Mike Mathers.
But in addition to DNA evidence that didn't match, several sealed police
reports were uncovered that cast doubt on testimony by Hanline's thengirlfriend, Mary Bischoff, who was granted immunity and was a key witness
during the trial.
Hanline's release comes as the pace of overturned convictions appears to be
accelerating nationwide with more DNA testing and awareness of other
problems, such as the unreliability of eyewitnesses or false confessions.
Last week, an Ohio man was freed after more than 39 years in prison for a
murder conviction after an eyewitness recanted a record number of years
served behind bars by an innocent man, according to the National Registry of
Exonerations.
Last year was a record year for exonerations with 91 overturned convictions,
according to the registry, which is run by the University of Michigan Law
School. A total of 87 have been logged so far this year.
A Torrance judge last week declared Susan Mellen "factually innocent" of the
murder of a transient man for which she served 17 years in prison, calling her
case "a failure of the criminal justice system." Mellen, the judge found, was
convicted on the word of a "habitual liar."
In Los Angeles, Timothy Atkins was declared innocent this summer of his
conviction for murder and robbery of a flower shop owner when a witness
recanted.
The flurry of exonerations has led prosecutors in several parts of the country
to launch their own efforts to review such claims. Local district attorneys'

offices in Dallas and Brooklyn as well as federal prosecutors in Washington,

D.C., have each started "conviction integrity units."
In the Ventura County case, McGarry disappeared on Nov. 10, 1978, and his
body was found two days later off California 33 in Ojai with two .38-caliber
gunshot wounds.
Bischoff testified she had complained that McGarry still had thousands of
dollars she and the victim had skimmed from motorcycle swap meets. She said
Hanline told her there was a contract out on McGarry and that Hanline would
"blow his brains out."
Bischoff also said she had seen Hanline leave home with a .38-caliber gun the
night of the killing, and that he had returned wet and muddy. Hanline said he
had been home all night working on motorcycles, leaving only to get beer.
Bischoff testified that she had been smoking pot laced with PCP and had used
cocaine on the night of the slaying. She was also under the influence of drugs
during the trial, according to court documents, forcing the judge to adjourn
court at one point.
Lief said Monday that the district attorney's office will continue to investigate
the McGarry slaying. Prosecutors have until May 29 to determine if Hanline
will face a retrial.
He was released on $2,500 bail and will have to wear a GPS monitor at least
until his next court date in February. He also was ordered by Coleman to have
no contact with five people linked to the case.
"The system failed on this one," said Justin Brooks, executive director of the
California Innocence Project, based at California Western School of Law in
San Diego. "He spent 36 years for a crime in a prosecution that never should
have happened."

Hanline was released into a world he will scarcely recognize. At the time he
was sent to prison, Jimmy Carter was president and the Internet did not exist.
"In the age of technology and that stuff, I'm a dinosaur," he said.
He said he was looking forward to fishing and spending time with his wife in
Paso Robles, where she lives. He called her "his rock."
"I'm ecstatic I'm going home with her today," he said outside the courthouse,
thanking his attorneys and expressing hope that other wrongfully convicted
inmates would be released.
"I didn't think what happened to me could happen in America, but it did," he
said.