CALGARY - David Milgaard is allowed to talk with his wife, but will have to wait another week to find out if he can go home after being charged in an alleged case of domestic abuse.

Milgaard, who spent 23 years in prison for a murder he didn't commit, was charged last week with assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats in an alleged fight with his wife.

There had been both a no-contact order and an emergency protection order in place against Milgaard, 59, preventing him from having any contact with his wife Cristina or his two children.

The emergency protection order that had been requested by Calgary police was dropped by a judge Friday at the request of Cristina Milgaard.

The no-contact order was amended to allow Milgaard to talk to his wife by phone or in a supervised visit with someone mutually agreeable to both parties.

The matter was adjourned until Thursday.

"His bail was varied to allow him to have contact," said his lawyer Hersh Wolch. "I expect they'll be back together, hopefully next Thursday."

Wolch had previously said that Cristina Milgaard wants her husband home with his family -- that the two are in love, and "anxious to get back together."

Milgaard, who has not appeared at either of his two court appearances this week, has been staying with friends. Wolch said he has never been interested in being in the "limelight."

There were no injuries during the incident.

Milgaard was wrongfully convicted of the 1969 murder of Saskatoon nursing aide Gail Miller and spent 23 years in prison before he was released.

DNA evidence later resulted in serial rapist Larry Fisher's conviction for the crime in 1999.

Milgaard was just 16 years old when he went to prison. He and two friends, all of them young hippies, had been passing through Saskatoon on a road trip when Miller was killed.

Milgaard and his mother, Joyce, fought for decades to prove his innocence and in 1992 the Supreme Court overturned his conviction.

Milgaard was eventually paid $10 million in compensation by the Saskatchewan government, which held an inquiry into the case.