The accused at the centre of a polarizing murder case revolving around the defence of personal property has been released on $100,000 bail.

Peter Khill, 26, was ordered released Thursday by Ontario Superior Court Justice Jane Milanetti.

Khill, a licensed millwright, was ordered to put up $50,000 or half of the bail. His mother Jane Khill of Wilsonville, Ont., will put up $25,000 as will Belinda Benko, who lives in Norfolk County.

Khill, charged with second-degree murder in connection with the Feb. 4 shotgun death of Jon Styres, was ordered to reside at the home of one of his sureties. He was told to retain employment, but was ordered not to leave Ontario. He is prohibited from possessing firearms or weapons. He will have to surrender his passport and was ordered not to have any contact with Styres' family.

He will also have to provide his probation officer his job itinerary and telephone numbers for his job sites and related out-of-town accommodations. Khill, who has been in custody since his arrest, will have to report once a month to the Hamilton police central station.

Khill, who has a dark complexion and a short, black hairstyle and stands about six-foot with a medium build, was supported in court by about a dozen friends and family members. He bought his Highway 56 rural Binbrook home last July. Khill, pronounced (kay-hill), was an award-winning student at Waterford District High School and Mohawk College. He also served as a reservist, with a Brantford artillery regiment of the Canadian Armed Forces.

Hamilton police have alleged Khill shot and killed Styres, a 29-year-old Ohsweken father of two, while the latter was in the process of stealing the accused's pickup truck from his driveway at 3 a.m. Styres was pronounced dead on the scene.

The shooting has sparked a "FreePeterKhill" online petition and another supporting the Styres' family and ignited a social media controversy over a property owner's right to defend their property.

Lindsay Hill, Styres' girlfriend and the mother of his two young daughters, said outside of court she felt "sick to my stomach" when Khill's release was ordered.

"He (Styres) was really fun to be around, he was easygoing, very loving, especially with the girls, he was so proud to be a father, he was a lot of things," she said of her late partner.

Hill, 28, said she had been together with Styres for four years.

Hill said she has been upset by some of the web posts on the case.

"I just feel a lot of people on the Internet are very cold in the way they are starting these petitions and saying these things. They are just treating Jon like he wasn't even a person. Yeah, he wasn't perfect but nobody is. And I feel like that is what they are making this Peter Khill out to be," she said.

Hill said Styres was out of work at the time of his death.

She had hoped Khill would have been detained.

"I also feel a lot of the people petitioning, they don't know any of the facts of the case. If they are saying they value a vehicle more than someone's life, I just feel sorry for them."

Khill's lawyer, Michael McArthur, said outside of court he was pleased with his client's release calling it "imminently sensible."

He said his client was relieved.

"I think he is very relieved. I think it's a matter of letting things decompress for a few days. He wants to return to some sense of normalcy."

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McArthur said Khill will plead not guilty to second-degree murder and argue the shooting was a case of self-defence.

A conviction carries an automatic penalty of life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

Khill's next court appearance is set for March 18.