"Spiritual warrior" James Arthur Ray had his bail reduced today by a Yavapai County Superior Court judge, which will likely grant the self-help guru his freedom as he stands trial for manslaughter.
Ray's bail had originally been set at $5 million but after three weeks of arguing that Ray couldn't afford the high-priced bond, his lawyers convinced a judge to reduce the amount to $525,000.
Judge Warren Darrow issued the ruling this afternoon, the Associated Press reports. He also asked that Ray surrender his passport and not participate in any sort of sweat-lodge-like ceremonies.
We just assumed the no more sweat-lodges provision was a given.
Ray
is charged with three counts of manslaughter for the October deaths of
three people at a sweat lodge ceremony he organized in Sedona.
Yesterday, an accounting fraud expert found that despite Ray's claims of being broke, he is worth at least $2.4 million.
That amount is much less than Ray often tells his followers while pushing his snake-oil but it's far from broke.
Because of the reduction, Ray is now likely to bail himself out of jail
but if convicted, he faces up to 12 1/2 years in prison for each
manslaughter charge.
