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JEFFERSON CITY — Michael Politte steadied the bike Friday morning and prepared to pedal for the first time since he was 14 years old. He and his friend Mike Glore used to ride together in Hopewell, Missouri, where Politte grew up. Now, 23 years later, Glore was here with him in the parking lot of the Jefferson City Correctional Center, when Politte breathed the fresh air of freedom.

“Meet you at the railroad tracks,� Politte said to the crowd that included his two sisters, Crystal and Melonie, and more than two dozen family, friends, reporters and attorneys.

The crowd cheered as the two Mikes rode off, grown men acting like children.

They had cheered earlier, too, as Politte walked out the front door to the first hugs in more than two decades that could last longer than five seconds.

They cheered, and Politte smiled, taking in everything around him.

What’s ahead for you, he was asked.

“Life,� he said. “I just want to live.�

Life was his original sentence, handed down after he was accused and convicted of killing his mother, Rita, in a fire in the trailer where she lived. Politte — and his sisters — have always maintained his innocence. He was convicted on bad science that the state now admits was inaccurate. A deputy who worked the case now believes there was a rush to justice; so do a couple of the jurors who have signed affidavits saying they got it wrong.

Officially, Politte is out on parole, the result of a new Missouri law enacted to help the state comply with U.S. Supreme Court rulings seeking to bring humanity and justice to lifelong sentences given to juveniles, while their brains are still forming.

While Politte is free, he will continue the fight for justice, for his exoneration, and for his mom, forever emblazoned on his side in a prison tattoo he got in 2003.

Politte has a petition before the Missouri Supreme Court. His attorney, Megan Crane with the MacArthur Justice Center, is hoping for the appointment of a special master that could lead to his conviction being vacated. His goal is exoneration for him, and justice for his mom.

A couple of geese flew across the hazy morning sky on Friday. Politte, standing in the parking lot surrounded by family, looked up. “Hi mom,� he said.

Debbie Van Pelt-McEnroe stood nearby holding a sign: “Exonerate Mike!� and “Please Find Rita Politte’s KILLER! It’s way past time for JUSTICE!� She lives in Kansas City and made the drive the night before, having followed Politte’s case for several years.

“I never thought this day would come,� Politte said a few moments after being released. He looked around and took in his surroundings. “I don’t see any barbed wire or razor wire. It’s all open. It smells different; looks different.�

He was all smiles.

It’s a small measure of justice for having been locked up since age 14. After a day of celebration, in the parking lot, then at a nearby park and later at lunch, Politte planned to head home, where he will live at Melonie’s house, one she bought in south ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ County in anticipation of his homecoming.

Even as he headed toward his new home, a part of Politte’s mind was on his old one. Before he left prison, he took a picture with his friend Lamar Johnson, another man fighting for his freedom. They share legal representation with the Midwest Innocence Project and have been each other’s biggest supporters as their cases move through the courts, slowly, hopefully toward the day when they can celebrate their freedom — and innocence — together.

“Hopefully the next time I’m in this parking lot, we’ll welcome him out here,� Politte said of Johnson.

A train chugged by on the tracks adjacent to the prison. It was a sound Politte had heard from behind the walls and fences, but it sounded different this time.

“I remember those,� he said, pointing at the long line of train cars. Like them, he’s headed away from the prison, to a new home, and new memories.

“I’ve just got my wings in the air,� he says. “I’m so happy.�