A woman, Kristine Bunch, who was jailed in 1996 for murdering her three-year-old son in an arson fire, has walked free from jail after new evidence was presented to the court.

Kristine Bunch, then 22, was sentenced to 60 years but has always maintained her innocence, the Detroit Free Press reported. 

She was released on Wednesday and given a bond for her new trial.

As she was led out of the prison, dressed in a new dress, a sheriff said quietly: "You're free."

Police initially claimed Bunch had lit a fire in her mobile phone in Indiana to kill her son, Tony, using kerosene she poured in the room, La Late News reported. But in March , the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned that decision.

In a new trial, defense attorneys will argue that results from the fire indicate that Tony died of carbon monoxide poisoning, which is inconsistent with the original finding.