Judge's Dad's Day thoughts lead to bail

MIAMI, June 25 (UPI) -- A judge who said he spent Father's Day pondering whether a Florida man accused of killing his wife should be deprived of his kids, granted him bail Thursday.

Miami-Dade County Circuit Judge David Miller set bail at $500,000 for developer Adam Kaufman of Aventura, rejecting arguments from prosecutors, The Miami Herald reported. Miller also dismissed a motion by prosecutors to recuse himself from the case on grounds he had pre-judged the bail question.

Eleanora Kaufman was found dead in the bathroom of the home she and her husband and their two children shared. Adam Kaufman was arrested after a medical examiner found his wife died of manual strangulation and not from falling and hitting her head as he had said.

On June 3, Miller refused bail, the usual practice in cases in which the charge is second-degree murder. But this week, he said he had second thoughts on Father's Day, remembering a case in which a defendant lost custody of his children while imprisoned awaiting trial.

''That got me thinking about the evidence presented and the lack of evidence presented,'' he said.