NEWPORT, Ky. -- After nearly 30 years, a Cincinnati man's murder conviction has been dismissed.

William "Ricky" Virgil left a courtroom in Northern Kentucky on Friday as a free man.

Virgil was convicted of killing a nurse in Newport in 1987 and spent 28 years in prison before a judge granted him a new trial in 2015 and released him on bond with an ankle monitor.

Media reported a judge dismissed the charge Friday after prosecutor Michelle Snodgrass said a grand jury decided earlier this month that there wasn't enough evidence to move forward with another trial.

When the decision was announced, Virgil hugged attorneys from the Kentucky Innocence Project, who took his case in 2010. Its investigation showed that DNA evidence at the scene was not connected to Virgil or the victim.