She was released from a Raleigh prison just before 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Lane did not make any comments to media as he left the prison with her father and her oldest daughter.
She was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2003, three years after her estranged husband was found shot to death.
Fred Lane played with the Carolina Panthers for three years and had been traded to the Indianapolis Colts before his death.
Prosecutors at her trial described Deidra Lane as an abusive woman who killed her husband for insurance money. Defense attorneys described her as a battered wife who killed in self defense.
