By Gina Tabonares
Variety News Staff

MICHAEL Lee Brown Jr., the principal suspect in the Barrigada shooting incident that resulted in the death of Edward Jones III last year, was back in the courtroom yesterday to press for the dismissal of his indictment.
He was scheduled for a criminal trial setting in the courtroom of Judge Anita Sukola, but his lawyer from the Alternate Public Defender asked for the hearing of the defense’s two pending motions: the motion to dismiss the indictment with prejudice, and the motion to compel discovery.
The two motions were filed on Dec. 18, 2006.
Judge Sukola scheduled the Feb. 23 motion hearing at 10 a.m. and asked both parties to prepare witnesses as she expressed her intention to schedule the case trial for March.
While ordering lawyers on the schedules, Judge Sukola specifically reminded the government lawyer, Christopher Shay, to be on time after he came in 30 minutes late at yesterday’s hearing.
Shay’s tardiness irritated the judge who also instructed her chamber staff to call the Attorney General’s Office to assign a representative for the proceeding.
“We don’t need to be calling your boss to know where you at. This is a murder case. How can you forget?” Sukola told Shay.
Brown is facing charges of possession and use of a deadly weapon while committing a felony in connection with the fatal shooting of Jones. He allegedly fled the scene of the crime with his friend, Elliott Pietro Aguon Calara.
Calara, 19, was charged with hindering apprehension as a third-degree felony after he refused to cooperate with investigators interviewing him in connection with Brown’s arrest.
Brown, who was convicted in the Superior Court for possession of a schedule II controlled substance on Dec. 15, 2003, remains behind bars on a $1 million cash bail.