SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge agreed Wednesday to reduce bail for six of eight alleged ex-members of the Black Liberation Army awaiting trial for conspiring to kill police officers during the 1970s.

Superior Court Judge Philip Moscone decreased the bail from $3 million to amounts ranging from $200,000 to $660,000 after defense lawyers argued that their clients had been employed for years and did not pose a risk to the public.

The state attorney general's office had asked to have the men's bail increased to $5 million.

In January, state prosecutors charged eight men in connection with the death of San Francisco police Sgt. John V. Young, 51, who was killed on Aug. 29, 1971, when two people armed with guns and dynamite stormed a police station. A civilian clerk also was injured.

Deputy Police Chief David Shinn said he was disappointed by the judge's decision.

"This was an organized group that went after police officers who were literally tasked with providing for the safety of San Francisco," Shinn said. "These were very heinous acts that resulted in the deaths of police officers."

Most of the men were former members of the BLA, a violent offshoot of the Black Panther Party, according to police. Authorities allege the group robbed banks, bombed a police funeral and killed two New York City officers during a five-year campaign to assassinate law enforcement targets on both coasts.

The judge granted bail reductions to all the defendants except two: Herman Bell and Anthony Bottom are serving prison time in New York for the May 1971 slayings of two police officers.

All the defendants who have been held in California since their arrests have pleaded not guilty. None had posted bail as of Wednesday afternoon.