A North Carolina man who received a life sentence for murder in 2011 is no longer behind bars.

News outlets report 51-year-old Mark Carver left the Gaston County Jail on Tuesday.

A Superior Court judge last week overturned Carver's conviction for the 2008 slaying of a 20-year-old student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, citing ineffective assistance by Carver's trial attorneys and questions about DNA evidence.

Carver testified at a hearing in April that he didn't kill Ira Yarmolenko, the woman whose body was found on the banks of the Catawba River.

Carver must wear an ankle monitor while he's out of jail.

Gaston County District Attorney Locke Bell says he plans to appeal the judge's decision. Carver would get a new trial if the DA's appeal fails.