DWIGHT, IL (CNN) -- A Chicago woman was released from prison after her conviction in the death of her young son was overturned. Nicole Harris spent seven years behind bars for a crime she says she did not commit. She's now looking forward to the future and getting on with her life.

For the first time in years, Nicole Harris is free. She says, "I was beyond anxious, there aren't any words to describe it. None. There aren't."

Just before noon, the Chicago mother walked out of the Dwight Correctional Center with family and friends by her side after a court overturned her conviction and ordered her released. Family friend Kevin Smith says, "So far she's getting out today so she's already been through enough."

Harris served seven years of a 30-year sentence for the murder of her 4-year old son. This morning, she was greeted inside the prison by her other son 14-year old Dionte who gave his mother a brown teddy bear and a balloon. Harris says, "I'm just overwhelmed and I'm thankful that it's going to be over. And I just want to get home to my son. I just ready to get on with my life and hold my son."

Nicole Harris had been behind bars since May 2005. Following her confession to authorities, a jury found the then-23-year old guilty of killing her son Jaquari Dancy with elastic from a bed sheet during a fit of rage at their northwest side home.

Harris has maintained her innocence saying her confession to police after 27 hours of questioning was false. She says, "And I knew that regardless of whatever happened that I had the truth behind me."

And with the help of the center on wrongful convictions and others, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed. Alison Flaum with the Northwestern University Center on Wrongful Convictions says, "There was so much about this case that troubled us even before we met Nicole."

The judges ruled, among other things, that a then-6-year old Dionte should've been allowed to testify that Jaquari strangled himself as he played a Spider-Man game while their mother was at a nearby laundry. Flaum says, "And from the very beginning, we knew that Nicole was innocent."

Now, Nicole Harris reclaims her life interrupted. She says, "I just want to enjoy life. I do, I'm glad to be free."

Harris remains in a kind of legal limbo. The state has appealed the ruling that overturned her conviction, asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case.

In the meantime, Cook County prosecutors could still move to retry Harris. A spokesperson for the office says that decision hasn't been made yet, and they plan to see what the U.S. Supreme Court decides.