Orlando killer’s widow can be freed on bond

The widow of the gunman who killed 49 people at an Orlando nightclub can be released from jail and into the custody of her family in the East Bay while she awaits trial on federal charges linked to the massacre, a judge in Oakland ruled Wednesday.

But Noor Salman, 30 — who has pleaded not guilty to aiding and abetting by providing material support to a terrorist organization and obstruction of justice charges — won’t be discharged from Santa Rita Jail in Dublin until at least Friday.

Federal Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu put a 48-hour hold on her ruling, which grants Salman $500,000 bond and strict conditions for her release.

That gives the U.S. attorney’s office a chance to appeal the decision in federal court in Florida, where Salman faces charges in the June 12 rampage at the Pulse nightclub that ended with police killing her husband, Omar Mateen.

Ryu acknowledged “the circumstances of the offenses are serious,” but said she based her decision, in part, on the evidence prosecutors laid out during a Feb. 1 hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Sweeney said that Salman had admitted to investigators that she helped Mateen case three locations for a mass shooting and made up a cover story for him while he left to commit the crime.

Salman had also been aware Mateen was watching Islamic State recruitment videos, and the couple burned through $30,000 in the 10 days before the attack, prosecutors said.

“She showed herself to be a calculated and callous person,” Sweeney said at last month’s hearing. “Her actions contributed to the death of 49 people.”

Prosecutors, though, did not provide any video or transcript of the alleged admission during the hearing.

Salman’s attorneys, Charles Swift and Linda Moreno, have argued their client was a victim of domestic abuse, has a diminished mental capacity and knew nothing of her husband’s deadly plot.

What’s more, the evidence against Salman consists mostly of an admission to authorities that has been fiercely criticized by the attorneys.

“I find, at this time, the weight of the evidence is debatable,” Ryu said. “The bulk of the evidence rests on alleged admissions that all were made during the end of an interrogation over 16 hours, during which she did not have counsel.”

She added that the government only pointed to the event, which was carried out by Mateen, and didn’t provided anything that “suggests Ms. Salman is violent or dangerous.”

Rather than stay in custody at Santa Rita, Salman — who has no criminal record — will be electronically monitored at her uncle’s home, Ryu said. Her uncle, Al Salman, has agreed to be her custodian and put his home up as collateral for part of the bond.

Salman’s mother, Ekbal Salman, also agreed to use her house in Rodeo as part of the bond.

The $500,000 collateral, close family relationships, lack of criminal history, and previous cooperation with law enforcement doesn’t make Salman a flight risk or a danger to the public, Ryu determined.

Orlando Police Chief John Mina said he was “disappointed” by the ruling.

“Nothing can erase the pain we all feel about the senseless and brutal murders of 49 of our neighbors, friends, family members and loved ones,” Mina said in a statement released Wednesday.

But he added that he has “full faith” that Salman “will ultimately be brought to justice.”

Salman grew up at her mother’s Rodeo home with her three sisters and was arrested there Jan. 16.

She married her first husband in 2008 in an arranged ceremony in the West Bank, where her mother still owns an apartment. The couple moved to Chicago and divorced.

Salman moved back to Rodeo with her mother in 2011, when she connected with Mateen through an online dating site. The two married in a private ceremony in Hercules and moved to Fort Pierce, Fla., where they had a son.

Federal law enforcement agents detained and interrogated Salman shortly after the attack, but released her. She immediately moved back home and stayed in contact with law enforcement officials, but wasn’t arrested or charged in the case for six months.

Salman’s attorneys said Wednesday’s ruling illustrates the weakness of the case against their client.

The judge was “not terribly moved” by the government’s case, “and we expect a jury won’t be either,” Moreno said.

Salman is due back in Oakland federal court next Thursday before the case moves to federal court in Orlando.