California IN BRIEF : MODESTO : Wrongly Accused Prisoner Freed

A Stanislaus County man was freed after 22 months behind bars for an attempted armed robbery he said never happened. Two men admitted in court that they lied when they claimed that Curtis Hendrix, 35, threatened and tried to rob them at knifepoint. When he was released, Hendrix “was just ecstatic,” said Alan Peacock, a court-appointed private detective whose investigation cleared Hendrix. “He claimed all along that he didn’t do this and finally he’s been vindicated.” Peacock turned up evidence that Hendrix’s accusers were under heavy medication for mental illness at the time of the alleged crime. Hendrix’s trial attorney did not investigate his client’s claims of innocence and told Hendrix not to testify. Hendrix, an ex-convict, had refused to plea-bargain, and wrote letters twice a week from his Folsom Prison cell proclaiming his innocence.