Judge John A. Houston of the Southern District of California said the prosecution has not met its burden with respect to risk of flight and danger to the community factors.
Houston placed Miah on house arrest subject to pretrial release conditions and electronic monitoring.
Miah will be released from custody of the U.S. Marshals Service upon installation of the electronic monitoring system at his residence.
He was required to issue a $5,000 personal security bond, to be co-signed by his wife Tahira Dolores Miah, who is a co-defendant in this case.
Miah’s new court-appointed defense attorney Joseph Horey filed a five-page motion for his client’s release pending trial.
“The court found that [Mr.] Miah did not pose a risk of flight, that there was no serious risk he would obstruct justice, and that a conditional release was sufficient to assure the safety of the community,” Horey said in an e-mail to the Variety.
“Mr. Miah is very happy to be released,” the defense lawyer added.
Two other visiting federal judges ruled that Mr. Miah posed a danger to the community.
But detention based solely on a finding of a danger to the community is not proper under applicable law, according to Horey’s motion.
“Pretrial detention on a ‘danger to the community’ basis is authorized only where one of the factors set forth in 18 United States Code 3142 (f) is present,” Horey argued.
Mr. Miah had been detained at the Department of Corrections facility after federal agents arrested him for unlawful transfer of identification documents on Dec. 12.
A grand jury later indicted Mr. Miah and four other defendants on charges of conspiracy, unlawful production and transfer of CNMI driver’s license.
Mr. Miah has denied the charges.
Mr. Miah’s co-defendants —Bureau of Motor Vehicles examiner William Hocog, Mrs. Miah, Hongmei Sun and Hui Qiang Yan — also denied the charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Schuler is prosecuting the case.
The federal jury trial is scheduled for June 20, 2011.
The other defendants have been released after posting $25,000 unsecured bond.
Court documents showed that Mr. Miah served one year of a three- year jail term for theft and forgery in 2005.
He was also charged by the CNMI government with kidnapping, and assault and battery, but the Attorney General’s Office moved for its dismissal without prejudice.
The prosecution earlier told the federal court that when Mr. Miah committed the federal offense, he was on pretrial release and thus under supervision for his criminal cases in Superior Court, totaling six offenses including obstruction of justice, theft and receiving stolen property, some of which had been dismissed.
