“I believe that continuing to incarcerate you serves no purpose,” Brown said as he handed down his ruling. “It would be a waste of taxpayer dollars. You obviously are a rehabilitated man.”

Anderson’s partner in the 2000 robbery case, Laron Arvester Harris Jr., pleaded guilty to robbery and was sentenced to 10 years in prison. He has since been released.

Megaro said Monday that Anderson had been at a birthday party with 30 or 40 people when the purse snatching happened.

He said his client had been living the same type of life he had been living before his belated incarceration.

“He’s been working, spending time with the family, going to church — everything you’d expect him to do,” he said. “He’s been doing very well financially, as a matter of fact. A purse snatching involving this individual is completely implausible.

“There’s going to be a lot of evidence coming to light in the next couple of weeks that will totally exonerate him,” he said.

Anderson was released from jail Monday afternoon after posting $10,000 bail. Anderson’s wife, LaQonna, declined to comment to a reporter who went to their home. She said her husband was not there.

Jeremy Kohler of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

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