TORTOLA, British Virgin Islands — Three of the four Americans accused of killing 34-year-old artist Lois McMillen walked out of a courtroom here as free men Thursday after a judge ruled that prosecutors presented insufficient evidence linking them to the murder.

High Court Justice Kenneth Benjamin ruled, however, that a nine-member jury hearing the case since April 2 could convict the fourth defendant — 37-year-old New York businessman William Labrador — if the jury believes the testimony of a prison informant who said he admitted drowning McMillen.

"Michael Spicer, Alexander Benedetto and Evan George. You are discharged," Benjamin said after he directed the jury to enter verdicts of not guilty in each case. "You are free to go. Step out of the box."

As the men filed out, cheers went up from the defendants' supporters who packed the courtroom for the much-anticipated ruling. Spicer offered encouragement to Labrador, who took the stand in his own defense Thursday afternoon and denied the charges.

Benedetto

Prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment about the rulings. McMillen's parents, Josephine and Russell McMillen of Middlebury, Conn., left the courthouse without talking to reporters.

The defendants, who all pleaded not guilty October 3, have been held without bail since Jan. 15, 2000, the day McMillen's fully clothed body was found lying face up on the south coast of the island of Tortola, one of more than 50 volcanic outcroppings that make up the British Virgin Islands. McMillen, an artist and former model, had been staying in her affluent Connecticut family's villa on the island.

Walking out the front gates of Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court for the first time since they were arrested 476 days ago, the released men said they looked forward to Labrador joining them later. All said they craved a real meal and routine things like walking down the street without the company of guards.

Spicer borrowed a reporter's cell phone to call his sister, Chris Matthews, in Watertown, N.Y.

George

"They released us. I wanted to be the first to know," Spicer told her. "Don't cry. I'll be home in America tomorrow I believe."

Spicer, a 37-year-old Charlottesville, Va., resident, said he is confident that the seven women and two men on the jury will not find prison informant Jeffrey Plante's testimony credible and will acquit Labrador.

"We are very much confident justice will be done for William as well," Spicer, walking amid a throng of reporters, said shortly after being released at noon. I want William to be free as we are. He's kept there by the word of a con man who lied about him and lied about me."

Plante, a 59-year-old convicted swindler from Texas, testified that Labrador, while his cellmate, admitted last year that he and McMillen got into an argument over money and he drowned her. Plante's testimony about incriminating statements the other defendants allegedly made while in prison was tenuous as best and could not bring lawful verdicts of guilt, Benjamin ruled.

The judge said Plante's testimony about Labrador's alleged confession, however, is an issue for the jury to decide.

On the stand, Labrador denied Plante's accusations and claimed he was home sleeping alone at the time of the murder.

"Did you drown Miss McMillen?" defense lawyer Richard Hector asked.

"No, I did not," Labrador said.

"Did you have any reason to wish Miss McMillen harm?"

Again Labrador said, "No, I did not."

On cross-examination, the prosecution tried to get Labrador to concede that he told two lies unrelated to the murder in his police statement. Also, in an attempt to show that Plante isn't the pathological liar the defense makes him out to, prosecutors got Labrador to concede that parts of Plante's testimony concerning conversations between the defendants in prison were true.

Labrador's mother, Barbara Labrador of Southampton, N.Y., said she was not surprised by the ruling and is confident that her son will also be going home soon.

"Three down, one to go. I feel very good and I think the judge made an excellent legal ruling," she said. "The only reason this is going to the jury is because of Jeff Plante. We're ready."

Labrador's defense team has a long list of witnesses already arriving from the U.S. who, lawyers hope, will destroy Plante's credibility and establish their contention that he is a liar who would say anything to save himself.

"It is very sad that William is being left there but I know he will be out soon," said George, 23, who told police he was a construction worker from Washington, D.C. "I know the jury will do the right thing."

Benedetto, who hugged his father and a female friend, wore sunglasses as he walked out of the court. The 35-year-old New Yorker and the other men who were released Thursday credited their lawyers, all veterans of practice in the Caribbean, for giving Benjamin the legal ammunition he needed to rule in favor of their motions to dismiss after the prosecution rested April 24.

In his ruling, which took an hour to read, Benjamin addressed many of the legal issues raised during a six-day hearing on the motions to dismiss made by the defense lawyers. He called the case against Spicer "less than thin," referring to the .003 grams of sand that the prosecution claimed put Spicer on the rocky shoreline where McMillen's body was found.

The judge blasted prosecutors Theodore Guerra and Terrence Williams for a last-minute effort to argue that even if Benjamin found insufficient evidence that they proved murder, the jury should be allowed to consider a lesser charge of accessory to murder after the fact.

Benjamin noted that Guerra told him specifically at the start of the trial that the prosecution was only seeking convictions for murder. He reminded the prosecutors Thursday that they are "ministers of justice" and advised that such legal maneuvers never be attempted again.

Late Thursday afternoon, the attorney general filed an appeal of the judge's ruling pertaining to Spicer and Benedetto, not George, but the defendants cannot be retried since they have been found not guilty.

Spicer, a Georgetown University Law School graduate who failed the bar exam several times, said he was pleased by the ruling but would rather think about where he was going to swim.

"I want to jump in the ocean. I want to jump into the beautiful Caribbean sea and wash off the circumstances of the prison for us," Spicer said. "Justice has been done."