A superior court judge this afternoon delayed setting a trial date for Darnell E. Lemons II after his attorney said he planned to file a motion to dismiss the case or send it back to a Pinal County grand jury.

Lemons, 40, appeared in court this afternoon on his drive-by shooting case. He is accused of shooting through his own windshield in April at another driver on State Route 347. Lemons is free on a $35,000 surety bond he posted in May.

Even with nine bullet holes in his windshield, Lemons’s defense is gambling that a judge or grand jury may find the state’s case too weak to stand trial.

Lemons briefly considered a plea bargain before his attorneys asked for more time to gather Maricopa police body-camera footage they say is central to his defense. Today, his public defender told the judge that the defense is filing paperwork this afternoon seeking to dismiss the case, just hours before the deadline to make such a motion.

The prosecutor confirmed to fill-in Judge Matthew Reed that the state had a copy of the motion.

That means the case is delayed yet again. Judge Jason Holmberg will take up the motion ahead of the next court hearing slated for Oct. 13.

The authorities say Lemons opened fire on a Ford F-150 that he claimed brake-checked him on SR 347. No one was injured in the shooting, but the truck was struck twice in the tailgate and brake light. The pickup’s driver, a Hidden Valley resident, pursued Lemons before state troopers arrested him near his Sky Lane home in the Maricopa Meadows. 

Investigators later recovered 10 shell casings from inside Lemons’s black Lexus ES sedan. Lemons told officers the Glock 43X used in the shooting belonged to him. 

The incident added another layer to Lemons’s legal history. A decade ago, he was convicted of a non-violent felony for misconduct involving weapons after prosecutors dropped more serious gang-related and first-degree murder charges. Lemons served prison time and just weeks before this shooting, he attempted to restore his gun and civil rights. Court records show no ruling was issued on that request.