Columbia, SC-- The first man sentenced to death in South Carolina for killing an unborn child has been released from prison.
Department of Corrections spokesman Clark Newsom said Tuesday that officials were releasing 41-year-old Joseph Ard.
Ard was sentenced to death in 1996 after he was convicted of killing his girlfriend and their unborn child. Authorities said Ard shot Madalyn Coffey to death, and their baby suffocated minutes later.
In 2007 the state Supreme Court ruled Ard would get a new trial because his attorneys failed to challenge one of the state's expert witnesses against him.
Last week, a jury found Ard guilty of Involuntary Manslaughter.
He was sentenced to time served.
WLTX