A former Arlington man sent to prison a year ago for selling a sex torture video on the Internet has been released after a federal appeals court threw out his conviction.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found Friday that the 2006 conviction of Brent Alan McDowell by a Dallas federal jury on a charge of mailing obscene material was based on insufficient evidence.

The video depicted a bound woman being tortured with needles.

The appeals court ruled that Mr. McDowell did not necessarily know that the videos would be sent through the U.S. mail.

Mr. McDowell served one year of a 2 ½-year sentence handed down by now-retired U.S. District Judge Barefoot Sanders before he was released Friday from an Arizona federal prison, according to his attorney, Clint Broden.