An Aug. 13 trial date was set Friday for two men accused in the May 2013 freeway shooting of a 22-year-old member of the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
Donte Haddock and Anthony Frank, both 26, are charged with murder in the May 5, 2013, death of Xusha Brown Jr.
A third defendant, 27-year-old Alaeante Eason, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
Authorities said the victim was riding in a Nissan Maxima on eastbound Interstate 8 in La Mesa when someone inside a silver or light gray sedan opened fire, hitting Brown in the head and wounding the driver, Malcolm Hune.
Investigators believe the shooting resulted from a gang dispute between Hune and the suspects. Brown was not a gang member and was an unintended victim in the shooting, said La Mesa police Chief Walt Vasquez.
Eason, Haddock and Frank were arrested last year. Haddock and Frank also face charges of attempted premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder, with an allegation that the murder was carried out to benefit a street gang.
A status conference for Haddock and Frank is set for Jan. 11.
—City News Service
