text: A prisoner who has finally been freed after spending half his life in jail for a crime he did not commit has said all he wants to do is spent time with his wife and go fishing. Michael Hanline, 69, was convicted of murder for the  fatal shooting  of truck driver J.T. McGarr in 1980. But more than three decades after he was incarcerated, it emerged that crucial DNA analysis and investigative reports were withheld from his original trial. Michael Hanline, 69, pictured with wife Sandy, has been released from jail after spending 36 years behind bars for a murder he did not commit . Michael Hanline answers questions from the media outside court yesterday after his murder charges were formally dismissed . The new evidence proved that Hanline was innocent and the longest-serving wrongfully imprisoned inmate in Californian history was finally released last November. After his murder charges were formally dismissed yesterday, Hanline who appeared with a white beard and pony tail outside court with his wife, Sandy, where he said he was hoping to return to a normal life. 'I feel good,' he added. 'All I want to do is go fishing and ride my bike and spend time with  Sandy and do a little gardening.' 'Hopefully everything is going to be like it used to be.' He added that he had been riding a motorcycle ever since his release and complained that California roads had gotten bumpier during his years behind bars. Mugshot: Hanline was convicted of murder for the fatal shooting of truck driver J.T. McGarr in 1980 . After decades behind bars, Hanline was also coming to terms with 21st century living and talked about 'Buck Rogers' gadgets such as cellphones. 'Gas isn't 32 cents and a pack of cigarettes isn't 30 cents,' he said. 'It's a whole new ball game.' Hanline was in his early thirties when he was charged with killing  friend, Ventura resident J.T. McGarry in 1978. He said he kept waiting for justice to prevail but had no idea that he would spent the next 36 years in prison. 'When I first got arrested, I figured it might take a year or two to get this all straightened around but not 36,' he said, including two years he spent in jail after his arrest but before his conviction. He added: 'I never believed I'd spend the rest of my life in prison, but man, 36 years is a long, long time.' McGarry, a Ventura resident who also used the name Michael Mathers, dealt in drugs and ran motorcycle-oriented swap meets for the publishers of Easyriders magazine, according to court papers. He went missing on November 10, 1978, and was found shot to death two days later by a highway. Hanline, who was romantically involved with McGarry's ex-girlfriend, was arrested on an unrelated charge that month after traveling to Northern California and using McGarry's credit card, court papers stated. He was charged with murder by prosecutors who suggested his motive was jealousy over McGarry's on-again, off-again relationship with the ex-girlfriend. But more than three decades after he was incarcerated, it emerged that crucial DNA analysis and investigative reports were withheld from his original trial . The evidence proved that Hanline was innocent and the longest-serving wrongfully imprisoned inmate in Californian history was finally released last November with charges only officially dropped yesterday . Hanline's then-girlfriend, Mary Bischoff, was granted immunity and was a key witness at his trial. She testified that McGarry had skimmed thousands of dollars from motorcycle swap meets and that Hanline had threatened to 'blow his brains out.' She also claimed that Hanline left home with a handgun the night of the killing and returned covered in mud. He said he worked on motorcycles at home all night except for leaving to get beer. In 1980, Hanline was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole. DNA analysis was not conducted at the scene where McGarry's body was discovered because the technology did not exist then. But Ventura County prosecutors said in court papers an analysis this year found the DNA profile of an unidentified male, not Hanline. In addition, evidence that should have been disclosed to Hanline during the trial was withheld from him. Special Assistant District Attorney Michael Schwartz said 'flaws in the trial and the totality of evidence cast sufficient doubt to warrant vacating the jury's guilty verdict.' Lawyers from the California Innocence Project had been working for 15 years to free him and it was them who persuaded local prosecutors to re-examine the evidence. 'The conviction was based on 'paper-thin evidence,' said Justin Brooks, director of the California Innocence Project. Prosecutors had said Hanlin, pictured in 1974,  kidnapped McGarry, shot him and dumped his body off of a highway . 'He is 100 percent innocent,' Brooks said outside court. Testing showed DNA found at the crime scene did not come from Hanline or his alleged accomplice. In addition, prosecutors withheld evidence that should have been disclosed to Hanline's legal team during the trial. Hanline's conviction was overturned and he was freed from prison on November 24 after prosecutors told a judge doubts had been raised about the case. However, he had been required to wear a GPS ankle bracelet and had faced the possibility of a retrial. A Ventura County Superior Court judge dismissed the charges at the request of prosecutors, telling the courtroom it was done because the allegations can't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors are still investigating who might have killed McGarry, who had ties to a motorcycle gang, he said. Hanline is at least the third person in recent years to be freed from a California prison after serving long sentences for murder. Last fall Susan Mellen, a 59-year-old mother of three, was freed after spending 17 years in prison for the death of a homeless man in Lawndale. A Los Angeles County judge said she was convicted on the word of a liar. In 2013, Kash Register was freed after spending 34 years in prison. The judge said prosecutors used false testimony from an alleged eyewitness. In 2007, Timothy Atkins was freed after spending 20 years in prison for a 1987 robbery and murder in Los Angeles. A key witness who claimed she heard him confess recanted her testimony.
target: Michael Hanline was serving life without parole for killing JT McGarry .
  But new DNA evidence at crime scene  revealed that he was innocent .
  After 36 years wrongfully imprisoned the 69-year-old has finally been freed .
  Hanline says all he wants to do now is fish and spend time with his wide .