Lawyers for the Bonner County man charged with first-degree murder have pushed back the pre-trial filing deadline in order to accommodate a civil mediation in an effort to resolve the case out of the courtroom.

According to court records, the case against Fabrian Rebeterano is headed to mediation in May.

Rebeterano, who is 40 years old, is currently free on bond of $50,000. He is charged with shooting Blas Salvador Alonzo “Duke” Dias on August 6, 2018. He is also facing charges of unlawfully possessing the .22 caliber pistol because he had been previously convicted on a methamphetamine charge in 2016. He has pled not guilty to the murder charge and the unlawful weapons charge.

Dias was awaiting trial for choking and punching a 16 year old girl in his apartment. According to court records, that girl was Rebeterano’s daughter. According to another person in the apartment at the time of that event, Dias held the girl against the wall by her throat and threw her onto the ground.

A pre-trial hearing is set for July 19^th, if the mediation proves unsuccessful. A grand jury indicted Rebeterano in early March 2019.

This is not the first time Bonner County has used civil mediation in a murder case. A 2007 murder at Priest Lake resulted in the murderer pleading guilty to manslaughter and accessory to grand theft and agreeing to serve a 15 year prison sentence. That defendant is currently serving his time at the Idaho Maximum Security Institution in Kuna and is expected to be there until 2022.