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Update: Monday, Nov. 8 at 5 p.m.

The state of Missouri said it will appeal a judge's decision overturning the 1996 murder conviction of a man accused of killing his mother.

Dale Helmig is serving a life sentence for the 1993 death of Norma Helmig. Her body was found tied to a concrete block in a flood-swollen river in central Missouri's Osage County.

Attorney General Chris Koster released a statement Monday saying other state and federal courts have reviewed and affirmed the finding of guilt.

Last week, a judge in the northwest Missouri county where Helmig is imprisoned ruled that Helmig "established his innocence by clear and convincing evidence."

The judge said prosecutors and law enforcement officers withheld evidence and presented false testimony at trial, and that Helmig's attorney was likely under the influence of drugs in court.

Original Story:

A Missouri judge has ruled that convicted murderer Dale Helmig was innocent of killing his mother 17 years ago.

DeKalb County Senior Judge Warren McElwain ruled Wednesday that Helmig "established his innocence by clear and convincing evidence."

Helmig was convicted in 1996 of killing his mother three years earlier in central Missouri's Osage County. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole.

Helmig's lawyer argued that special state prosecutor Kenny Hulshof withheld evidence and presented false testimony at the trial.

In his order Wednesday, the judge wrote that Helmig was "victim of a manifest injustice."

A local prosecutor must decide within the next six months whether to retry Helmig.

A bond hearing will be held next week to get Helmig out of prison.