An Arizona woman who was convicted of having her toddler killed for a life insurance claim has been set free.

Debra Milke has more that twenty years on death row after being found guilty of having her 4-year-old son killed. She will be free on bond while prosecutors reschedule a retrial of the case that made her one of the state's most hated inmates.

Judge Rosa Mroz of Maricopa County Superior Court set Debra Milke's bond at 250,000 dollars, saying she found no direct evidence linking Milke to her son's death other than a supposed confession to a detective. And, the judge said, the soundness of that admission is in doubt. She has been imprisoned since 1990.

Prosecutors charge Milke had her son, Christopher, killed to collect on a $5,000 insurance policy. Authorities say she dressed the boy in his favorite outfit and told him he was going to see Santa Claus at a mall in December 1989. She then handed the boy over to two men who were later convicted of taking the child to the desert and shooting him.

Her pending freedom, at least for now, comes six months after a federal appeals court overturned Milke's conviction, ruling that the prosecution should have disclosed information about the truthfulness of the now-retired detective who testified that Milke confessed.

Milke was a 25-year-old insurance company clerk when her son was killed. Now 49, she has maintained her innocence, saying she had nothing to do with the slaying.

The two men convicted in the case both remain on death row. Neither Roger Scott nor former Milke roommate James Styers testified at Milke's trial. Scott confessed during a police interrogation and led detectives to the boy's body.

Maricopa County prosecutors are still seeking the death penalty against Milke at her retrial, tentatively for September 30th, and her alleged confession is at the heart of the case against her.