California man who served 34 years of life sentence for murder has charges dismissed

VENTURA, Calif. – Charges have been dismissed against a California man who served 34 years of a life sentence for murder.

A judge in Ventura County dropped the case against 69-year-old Michael Hanline on Wednesday at the prosecution's request.

Hanline was convicted in 1980 of shooting Ventura, California, resident J.T. McGarry. But new tests showed that DNA found at the crime scene didn't come from him.

Hanline was freed from prison last year after prosecutors told a judge they were no longer sure he committed the crime.

Hanline was the longest-serving wrongfully incarcerated inmate in California history, according to the California Innocence Project, which took his case in 1999.