Former student wins bail appeal in SIU threat case

EDWARDSVILLE -- A judge in Madison County has ruled that a former Southern Illinois University student charged with threatening a shooting rampage can no longer be held without bail.

Associate Judge Richard Tognarelli sided with 23-year-old Olutosin Oduwole (oh-loo-TOH'-sihn oh-DOO'-wawl-ee) in his appeal of a judge's decision to hold him without bail.

He delivered the opinion Friday. A court date to decide Oduwole's bail hasn't been set.

Oduwole was charged in July 2007 with making a terrorist threat after campus police found a note in his car that demanded $50,000 or vowed "a murderous rampage" similar to the Virginia Tech shootings.

Oduwole's $1.1 million bail was revoked after police said he failed to report the charges while attempting to buy a semiautomatic handgun in October.