The trial of Mario Simmons has been set.

Simmons, 26, is charged with the murder of Paul Jermaine Molette, 21, who died following a shooting incident outside the Washington St. Supermarket Feb. 28.

On Tuesday, Fourth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Marvin Wiggins set a pretrial conference for July 24, 2003 after receiving a waiver to dismiss a scheduled arraignment hearing. The trial is scheduled for August 18, 2003.

Defense attorney William T. Faile filed a waiver asking the court to dismiss the arraignment hearing Tuesday. A plea of &uot;not guilty&uot; was entered at that time.

At an arraignment, the indictment is read and a plea entered. A trial date is then set.

Faile said arraignments are becoming a thing of the past. Many attorneys now file waivers in lieu of waiting two hours to stand before a judge for only 60 seconds.

Simmons’ next step is the pretrial conference.

Faile said arguments with Greene may occur over discovery of evidence at the conference, but probably nothing would happen until the Aug. 18 scheduled trial date.

Faile said he wasn’t planning on moving the trial to another county.