A former Rutgers University professor who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a disabled man whom she says she fell in love with will not return to prison.

Anna Stubblefield, 48, was sentenced to time served on Friday after she pleaded guilty in March to a lower charge of aggravated criminal sexual contact.

Stubblefield was convicted in 2015 and sentenced to 12 years in prison after authorities say the former chair of the Rutgers-Newark philosophy department had sex with a 37-year-old nonverbal man with cerebral palsy.

But an appeals court ruled last June after she served nearly two years in prison that she should get a new trial with a new judge because the trial judge erred by barring testimony from an expert witness for the defense.

Stubblefield's lawyer argued that the expert would have convinced jurors the man could consent to sex.

Stubblefield testified during her 2015 trial that she and the man, who was the brother of one of her students, fell in love after she was brought on by his family to help him communicate. Stubblefield testified he consented to the relationship by communicating on a keyboard through a technique called "facilitated communication," where a trained person holds the disabled person's arm to help them type.

As part of her March plea, Stubblefield admitted in court that she should have known the man was legally unable to consent.

The appellate panel found that because jurors couldn't hear the expert's full assessment of the man, they were left with the impression that no one — apart from Stubblefield herself — believed he had the mental abilities to consent to sex.

Stubblefield was married with children when her relationship with the man developed.

The man's family sued Stubblefield and won a $4 million judgment over her treatment of him.