A judge in New Orleans lowered the bond this week for a jail plumber accused of helping 10 inmates break out of the parish lockup in a brazen May 16 escape.

Judge Leon Roche reduced the bond for Sterling Williams from $1.1 million to $86,000. The judge also found probable cause for all 11 counts Williams faces, including one count of malfeasance in office and 10 counts of being a principal to escape.

Williams, 33, is accused of facilitating the inmates' flight through a hole behind a ripped-out toilet in a first-floor cell. The men then scaled a fence and ran across Interstate 10 to freedom.

Williams’ attorney, Michael Kennedy, challenged the bond set in July by Magistrate Commissioner Joyce Sallah. On Monday, he called the $1.1 million figure “entirely out of bounds for these charges."

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