SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico -- A Superior Court judge Friday reduced the bail of an Iowa man who fled to his home state six years ago after being charged with murder, then voluntarily returned to Puerto Rico this week.
Ronald M. Calder, 47, a former federal air traffic controller from Des Moines, returned to Puerto Rico Wednesday to face 6-year-old charges of murder and attempted murder in the death of a Venezuelan woman in Aguadilla, 75 miles west of San Juan, officials said.
Aguadilla Superior Court Judge Fernando Gierbolini granted Calder's request for a reduction in the $300,000 bail that was set six years, setting bail at $100,000 in securities or $10,000 in cash.
Defense attorneys Mark Pennington and William Kutmus were to fly Saturday to Iowa in an effort to raise $100,000 securities or $10,000 cash to meet bail.
Calder was returned to Rio Piedras State Penitentiary, where he has been held since Wednesday when he voluntarily turned himself in to authorities in the capital.
He was freed on $5,000 bail six years ago on a charge of involuntary manslaughter after he allegedly ran over Amy Villalba de Jesus, a Venezuelan woman, in a parking lot in Aguadilla, where Calder worked.
Authorities later charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder and increased bail to $300,000. But while he was free on the lesser bail set on the manslaughter charge, Calder left Puerto Rico.
Calder fought extradition and two Iowa governors refused Puerto Rican attempts to have him returned.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in an appeal filed by Puerto Rican authorities, overturned a pre-Civil War high court decision and ruled governors must abide by federal court extradition orders.
Calder has contended that he accidentally ran over the woman as he tried to flee her husband, Antonio de Jesus, who he said was chasing him with a metal pipe. Villaba was eight months pregnant when she was killed.
Puerto Rican authorities allege Calder ran over the woman deliberately three times.
In reducing bail, Gierbolini said Calder cannot leave Puerto Rico until the completion of his trial, due to begin Nov. 17 in Aguadilla, and must report to court officials once a week.
