Updated

A North Carolina man who spent nearly 17 years in prison for a murder case in which law officers and prosecutors hid key details is going free.

Superior Court Judge Joe Turner on Friday ordered the release of 62-year-old LaMonte Armstrong. Turner says it's probably the closest to knowing he's doing justice he'll experience.

Armstrong was convicted of the 1988 killing of Ernestine Compton, one of his former professors at North Carolina A&T State University. Key to the case was testimony from a convicted felon who now says police pressured him to accuse Armstrong.

Police Chief Ken Miller said investigators have matched a palm print found at the crime scene to another suspect who was later convicted of killing his father and died in a 2010 traffic accident.