Woman to be released after 17 years behind bars for Utah murder

(CBS/AP) SALT LAKE CITY - Debra Brown, a mother who served 17 years in prison for a 1993 murder, awaits release after being exonerated by a judge.

Brown is the first inmate exonerated under a 2008 Utah law allowing judges to reconsider convictions based on new factual - not scientific - evidence.

Brown's attorneys expect the 53-year-old woman to be released Monday afternoon from the Utah State Prison in Draper, 20 miles south of Salt Lake City. They're awaiting an order from 2nd District Judge Michael DiReda, who last week overturned Brown's conviction and life sentence.

The Utah Attorney General's Office has indicated it will decide Monday whether to appeal.

Brown was arrested in Logan, about 80 miles north of Salt Lake City, 10 months after the November 1993 shooting death of her longtime friend and employer, Lael Brown. The two were not related.

In Brown's case, a judge finally agreed with what she had been saying all along - that her alibi put her elsewhere when the crime occurred, even though she admitted forging checks belonging to the victim.