Bakersfield, Calif. ? A judge on Friday threw out the child molestation conviction of a man who spent 20 years in prison, siding with the defense after most of the alleged victims claimed the assaults never happened.

John Stoll, now 60, will remain in custody until a May 4 hearing to determine a release date.

He was convicted in 1985 on 17 counts of child molestation. Attorneys for the Innocence Project have sought his freedom since January, claiming authorities coerced false testimony from the child victims, ranging from 6 to 8 years old.

“The petitioner has met the burden of showing that the interview techniques … resulted in unreliable testimony from child witnesses,” Kern County Superior Court Judge John Kelly said.

Doctors never examined the children who claimed to have been molested by Stoll and others at parties that included sodomy and group sex. The case rested on testimony alone.

Four of Stoll’s accusers, now adults, recently testified they were manipulated by investigators who dogged them for hours until they fabricated the stories. A fifth witness testified he has no memories from that part of his childhood.

Eddie Sampley was 7 when, he says, he falsely accused Stoll. He attended Friday’s hearing and said the ruling lifted a heavy burden of guilt.

“I’m feeling great, top of the world,” Sampley said. “It’s been long enough. You cry loud enough and long enough and somebody’s got to hear you. I just feel a lot lighter now. I just hope he can enjoy the rest of his years.”

Though Stoll is up for parole next year, a release without vindication could have sent him to a mental hospital indefinitely.

Stoll says he was swept up in a wave of hysteria in the 1980s that led to the trials of hundreds of people. In Bakersfield, 46 people were arrested in alleged molestation rings. Twenty-two of those convictions were later reversed.