BANGOR (AP) – A Canadian who was convicted of manslaughter in the 1996 beating and drowning death of a classmate at the University of Maine at Fort Kent is a free man after his release from prison.

Dean Michaud, 29, walked off a bus Tuesday in Edmundston, New Brunswick. He was greeted by his mother and father, two brothers and more than 40 family members and friends.

Michaud was sentenced to 16 years in prison, with three years suspended, in the death of Thomas Maki of East Bridgewater, Mass., following a dispute over a young woman.

Maki drowned Sept. 11, 1996, hours before he was to go on his first date with a university student and former Miss Madawaska whose 18-month relationship with Michaud had soured.

The state argued that Michaud intended to kill Maki when he took him to the St. John River in Frenchville. Michaud did not testify during the weeklong trial, but the defense maintained that he only wanted to have a talk with Maki.

Michaud was transferred from a Maine prison to a Canadian facility seven months ago to complete his sentence.

In all, he served 10 years and three months.

Michaud must now spend his nights for a period of time at a provincial jail in New Brunswick because there are no halfway houses or similar facilities in the area. The jail is about 20 miles from his parents’ home in Clair, New Brunswick.

Maki’s mother, Rosemarie Maki, told the Bangor Daily News in an e-mail that Maki never expressed remorse for her son’s death.

“He served a mere 10 years for callously and maliciously taking my son’s life with his bare hands,” she wrote.

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