La Mesa
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A judge ruled Thursday that bail earlier set at $5 million for an Iraqi man charged with murder was “excessive” and reduced it to $1.5 million.
At a bail review hearing for Nadir Jamil Mikhail, 20, of El Cajon, San Diego Municipal Judge Ann Winebrenner said the $5-million bail set earlier by another judge was “tantamount to no bail.” “It would be unfair to penalize the defendant in any way because of his ethnic heritage,” Winebrenner said.
But the judge said she was concerned over the number of shots fired at the party in La Mesa, where the crimes occurred, and the defendant’s history of possessing weapons.
Mikhail is charged with killing Robert Loftis, 19, of Lemon Grove, and the attempted murder of Charles Hall, 19, of Spring Valley, at a party at a private home in La Mesa on Jan. 26.
Investigators have said the incident has nothing to do with the war against Iraq.
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