BOSTON -- Mitt Romney has called on a Superior Court judge he appointed to resign after she released a convicted killer without bail, and the man allegedly killed a newlywed couple in Washington state, reported WCVB-TV in Boston.

In a statement, Romney spokesman Eric Fehrnstrom said Judge Kathe Tuttman's decision to free Daniel Tavares Jr. "represented an inexplicable lapse in judgment and was inexcusable."

"Unless there are facts unknown to us, Gov. Romney believes Judge Tuttman should resign," Fehrnstrom said.

Tuttman has declined comment on the case. "The canons of judicial conduct prohibit me from making any statements," she said in an interview with The Boston Globe.

In June, Tavares completed a 16-year sentence for manslaughter for killing his mother, but prosecutors tried to keep him behind bars for allegedly assaulting two prison guards while he was nearing the end of his sentence.

Fehrnstrom said Tavares, 41, had also threatened in a letter intercepted by prison officials in February 2006 to kill Romney and other state officials.

A district court judge approved bail of $50,000, but Tuttman in July overturned that decision and freed Tavares on personal recognizance.

Tavares fled to Washington to live in the town of Graham with a woman he met while in prison. On Monday, Tavares was arrested for allegedly shooting to death Brian Mauck, 30, and Beverly Mauck, 28, who lived near him. Also on Monday, Romney was in the Seattle area and was warned that Tavares might be in the Washington state area, Fehrnstrom said.

Romney, who is seeking the Republican nomination for president, appointed Tuttman in April 2006. Fehrnstrom said Tuttman, a career prosecutor, had a reputation that suggested she would be a "law-and-order" judge.

"Otherwise, she never would have been appointed," Fehrnstrom said.

One of Romney's Republican opponents, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on Saturday criticized Romney's appointment of Tuttman.

"The governor is going to have to explain his appointment and the judge is going to have to explain her decision, but it's not an isolated situation," Giuliani told The Associated Press during an interview in Laconia, N.H. "Gov. Romney did not have a good record in dealing with violent crime."