A federal judge has recommended that convicted murderer Taryn Christian be freed from custody and allowed to live at home on Maui if his request for a new trial is approved by a San Francisco appeals court.

The recommendation was issued yesterday by U.S. District Judge David Ezra, who ruled Sept. 30 that Christian did not receive a fair trial when he was convicted in 1997 in state court of the July 1995 murder of Maui man Vilmar Cabaccang.

Ezra's September ruling is now being appealed by the Maui prosecuting attorney to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

While that appeal is pending, the 9th Circuit judges asked Ezra for a recommendation on whether Christian, 32, is eligible for release from custody.

Ezra said in an 11-page decision today that Christian is not a danger to society or a risk to flee the country.

"This court is mindful that there is no guarantee that any defendant awaiting trial or sentencing will not become a fugitive," Ezra wrote.

He said he balanced information from defense and prosecution lawyers in what he called "the imperfect effort to gauge the likelihood of flight or dangerousness."

If the 9th Circuit upholds Ezra's decision that Christian is entitled to a new trial, Christian should be allowed to live with his mother and stepfather, Lori and Paul Smith, after posting bond secured by the Smiths' real estate holdings, Ezra wrote today.

In ruling earlier that Christian did not receive a fair trial, Ezra said the state court should have allowed the defense to present testimony from two witnesses who claimed that another man had confessed murdering Cabaccang.

Prosecutors questioned the credibility of those witnesses and argued that other evidence established Christian's guilt.

First Deputy Prosecutor Peter Hanano noted that Christian owned a double-bladed knife that matched the weapon used to murder Cabaccang. And DNA tests conducted after the trial showed that Christian's DNA was on the sheath of the knife that killed Cabaccang.

Defense lawyers have argued that Christian never denied being at the scene of the crime but did deny any responsibility for the murder.

Christian has been in jail or prison since he was first arrested shortly after the murder.