Columbus, OH (AHN) -- "Hello, truth. Hello, freedom." The slogan was printed on the T-shirt Robert McClendon wore in court Monday when his release from prison was ordered, 18 years after conviction of child rape.

Franklin County's Common Pleas Court Judge Charles A. Schneider ordered the release of McClendon, 52, of Columbus after new DNA tests showed that semen in the underwear of the then 10-year-old rape victim was not his.

McClendon thanked the judge after hearing the order.

His friends and relatives appeared in the courthouse wearing T-shirts with the same slogan, his face, and a poem he wrote.

Traces of the semen were not detected by the Columbus police crime lab in 1990, leading to McClendon's conviction the following year.

McClendon's release was made possible through an Ohio law allowing prisoners to apply for new DNA testing. The Innocence Project, a legal clinic based at the University of Cincinnati, identified 30 of 313 applicants for free DNA tests, including McClendon. Results of the tests on McClendon were released on July 22.

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