A Manitoba man who was convicted of murder left prison after almost 14 years Thursday, thanks to a judge who decided he may have been wrongly convicted.

Kyle Unger, now 34, has been serving a life sentence for the sexual assault and strangling of high school student Brigitte Grenier at a music festival in 1990.

A judge ordered Unger's release on bail earlier this month, saying there were concerns about evidence used to convict him. The federal justice minister is also reviewing the case.

Kyle Unger. (File Photo)
Kyle Unger. (File Photo)

When Unger walks out of prison Thursday, he told CBC News, he will be met by his parents. He says he couldn't have endured his ordeal without them.

"They've followed me through the system as I'd transfer from prison to prison," he said. "They would move with me, just to be close to me."

Last year, DNA tests proved the single strand of hair used to place Unger at the scene of Grenier's death did not belong to him.

Now the only evidence against Unger is a controversial confession made to undercover RCMP officers pretending to be drug dealers.

James Lockyer, Unger's lawyer, said federal Justice Minister Irwin Cotler's department has asked an expert in false confessions to examine the case.

"He didn't even know where the girl had been killed," Lockyer said. "He took the police and told them it had happened on a bridge that wasn't built until four months after her murder."

Lockyer said he expects Ottawa's review of Unger's conviction to take several more months.

In the meantime, Unger said, he will become reacquainted with his family while meeting the conditions of his bail.