Shortly after he started the California Innocence Project, Justin Brooks received a letter from an inmate — one of thousands the organization would receive over the next 15 years asking for help.
It came from Michael Hanline, who had been convicted of murder in a 1978 shooting and was serving life in prison without the possibility of parole. Brooks took the case, one he said would haunt him each year that Hanline remained behind bars.
Just a few years ago, it seemed that Brooks and his colleagues had run out of options, and that maybe their client would never be a free man. But that wasn’t the case.
On Monday, Hanline walked out of custody in Ventura County after being imprisoned for 36 years. the longest-serving wrongfully convicted inmate known in California.
And Brooks was right there by his side.
“His conviction’s been reversed so he’s fully innocent right now,” said the 49-year-old director of the project at California Western School of Law.
[For more of this story, written by Dana Littlefield, go to http://www.utsandiego.com/news...stin-brooks-inmates/]
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