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OAKLAND — An Alameda County Superior Court judge ordered Friday that a man charged with murdering his wife, former San Jose Mercury News photographer Lucille Houston, be held without bail. 

Raymond F. Houston, 40, was already in custody in lieu of $1 million bail and appeared in an Oakland courtroom Friday in yellow jail garb. 

Judge Jon Rolefson Friday denied a motion by defense attorney Walter Cannady that sought to have Houston's bail reduced by $100,000 or $200,000. Instead, the judge granted a motion by the prosecution to increase bail. 

“I find that it does appear that the defendant presents a danger to the community and to this witness in particular,” Rolefson said. “I am very concerned about the apparent risk that is presented by Mr. Houston if he is released.’ 

The judge was referring to an assertion by the prosecutor that Houston had allegedly asked a fellow jail inmate to help him silence a witness.