By Mason City Globe Gazette

FOREST CITY, Iowa —  A hearing on a motion to release a former Forest City police officer from prison as he awaits a new trial is set for Friday in Winnebago County District Court.

Thaddeus Ellenbecker, 36, was granted a new trial after the Iowa Court of Appeals ruled that law enforcement officers failed to read him his Miranda rights.

The ruling issued in May reversed Ellenbecker’s convictions on second-degree arson and second-degree burglary and ordered that he be granted a new trial.

The hearing on the motion for release is set for 11 a.m. Friday.

He is being held at the Newton Correctional Faciility.

Ellenbecker was convicted in November 2012. Judge DeDra Schroeder sentenced Ellenbecker to 10 years in prison on each count.

Ellenbecker was charged with arson in the Oct. 1, 2011, fire which extensively damaged the Forest City police station. He was also charged with burglary for the Nov. 19, 2010, theft of the Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault rifle from the squad car of a police officer.