Northern California Man Exonerated After 15 Years In Prison

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- A California man has been released from prison after being exonerated from a conviction of child molestation.

The Sacramento Bee reports that 48-year-old Larry Pohlschneider walked free last week after serving nearly 15 years of a 24-year sentence at Corcoran state prison.

Pohlschneider contacted the Santa Clara University School of Law's Northern California Innocence Project, and with their help his 2000 conviction should be vacated and charges dismissed for ineffective assistance from his trial attorney.

If he is found "factually innocent" in a hearing next month, Pohlschneider would be compensated about $766,500 for the time he spent prison.

Maitreya Badami of the Innocence Project says the evidence used to convict Pohlschneider was not sound.

In his first hours as a free man, Pohlschneider stopped at a Denny's restaurant, got a haircut and ate cheesecake.