More than 26 years after he was convicted of murder, Johnny Edward Tallbear walked free Monday thanks to DNA testing that prompted prosecutors to dismiss his case.

"I'm so relieved," the gray-haired man told news reporters outside an Oklahoma County courtroom. "Boy, I'm happy. I'm just happy to be out."

He was sent to prison after jurors found him guilty of first-degree murder in the 1991 beating and stabbing death of a homeless man known as "Pops." Tallbear was 34 at the time.

In dismissing the case, prosecutors did not say Tallbear is innocent. Instead, they said the outcome of his trial may have been different had the DNA testing been available then.