Kent Mawhinney, the friend and former attorney of Fotis Dulos charged with conspiracy to commit murder in Jennifer Dulos' disappearance, posted bond Monday after spending more than nine months behind bars.

Mawhinney has been held at Cheshire Correctional Institution on $2 million bond since his arrest Jan. 7. For the first time since then, he left the courthouse from the front entrance, no longer in handcuffs but now with a GPS ankle bracelet.

Mawhinney's release came after the court reduced his bond to $246,000 so he can visit his sick father in Florida.

His parents put up $50,000 cash and a $196,000 real estate bond for his release.

"We're happy with the compassion of the state in allowing Kent to deal with his family and see his father in Florida," says his attorney, Lee Gold.

Gold filed a motion earlier this month to modify Mawhinney's bond conditions because his 86-year-old father has lymphoma and prostate cancer, which has metastasized.

The filing states Mawhinney is not a flight risk and would like to "spend time with his father and aid his sister in caring for him before he passes."

Chief State's Attorney Richard Colangelo did not object.

Mawhinney has pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in the death of Jennifer Dulos. His arrest warrant alleges Mawhinney was at Fotis Dulos' home the morning Jennifer Dulos went missing to provide a fake alibi for Fotis Dulos.

Police also say Fotis Dulos called Mawhinney while he was throwing out garbage bags, later found to contain Jennifer Dulos' bloody clothes - a conversation Mawhinney denied.

The warrant also connected him to what police say was a human grave at a gun club.

Mawhinney had to turn over his passport before getting out. He cannot leave Connecticut without the court's permission.

His bond release conditions are the same ones his co-defendant, Michelle Troconis, faces.