Ex-NYC Top Cop Allowed Out Of Jail For Holidays

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) — Bernard Kerik, the former New York City police commissioner and one-time candidate for Homeland Security chief, was freed from jail Tuesday for the holidays to await sentencing on federal crimes.

Kerik, who pleaded guilty last week to eight felonies, was released on $1.5 million bond by federal Judge Stephen Robinson after the former top cop spent three weeks in jail.

He is expected to receive a prison term of about 2½ years at his sentencing in February for crimes including lying to the White House when he was being considered for the federal security post.

Before releasing Kerik, the judge warned him that by leaving prison for three months, he was just postponing the inevitable.

"It's a mortal lock that there will be jail time at the end of this," Robinson said.

Before the court session, Kerik, 54, chatted breezily with his lawyers. His wife, Hala Matli, was in the gallery. Afterward, he strode down the steps of the federal courthouse, looking straight ahead and ignoring questions from news reporters. He got into a waiting Ford Suburban and left for his $2.5 million home in Franklin Lakes, N.J.