UPDATE: Hearing rescheduled for 9 a.m. Thursday, June 6; courtroom to be announced.

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The defense team for 22-year-old Sterling Randall Hunt, of Globe, has filed a motion asking to send the case back to grand jury.

With an allotted time of three hours, the “motion to remand” hearing is set for 9 a.m. Friday, May 17, in the Division One Courtroom of Judge Bryan B. Chambers.

Hunt is the defendant in the Nov. 11, 2018 mass shooting in downtown Globe that ultimately left three people dead and one critically injured. His trial is set for Oct. 6, 2020, also in Chambers’ courtroom.

Chief Deputy County Attorney Bradley Soos is the prosecutor and Hunt’s defense team is made up of attorneys Michael Ziemba and Thomas Henager.

Hunt was arraigned Nov. 26, 2018, six days after a grand jury handed down an indictment on three counts of first degree/premeditated murder and two counts of attempted first degree/premeditated murder.

Among what Chambers described as “a whole slew of motions and responses,” Hunt’s defense team filed a Feb. 19 motion “to exceed page limits,” regarding its motion to remand to the grand jury “for a new determination of probable cause.”

“You don’t get to file four motions to remand,” said Soos, calling it “one of the most absurd things I’ve ever heard.”

“Every defense attorney thinks they get to try the case before the grand jury,” he said. “The grand jury is not a trial: It is a probable cause determination.”

Hunt’s defense team filed a 35-page motion, which Soos pointed out was “three times the page limit.”

“This is a complex capital case,” Ziemba said. “There are a lot of moving pieces, so there is no way to keep it down to 11 pages.”

Soos said that the defense “wanted to make their case that the defendant got a cigarette laced with drugs from one of the victims,” even though Hunt’s toxicology results indicated there were no drugs in his system.

“They believe it because defense attorneys believe what their clients tell them,” he said.

Soos went onto say, “It’s not a complex case. It’s very simple — there were three people killed execution-style at one time at one place.”

He described the evidence as “so overwhelming” that even a new grand jury wouldn’t make a different decision.

Reminding the court that there are “two sides to every story,” Ziemba said, “The State says that it is not a complex case, but it is in fact a complex case,” requiring the “fair and impartial presentation” of Hunt’s defense.

After granting the motion to exceed the page limit, Chambers reminded everyone that it had already been designated as a complex case.

Chambers said he believed that Soos was not denying the designation, but rather that “the case is simple, not complicated,” from the prosecution’s perspective.

Citing “a practical reason for granting the motion,” Chambers said, “My goal is to only try this once, and not be overturned on appeal,” which he called “a very remote possibility.”

On Jan. 22, Soos filed a motion to preclude victim’s toxicology results.

“This is nonsense. The victim is gone. She is not coming back to testify against the defendant,” he said. “We have video. The victim was shot at close range execution style and there was no other shooter. She was perfectly innocent.’’

Ultimately, Chambers decided to set aside the motion for the time being, also calling it “unlikely that there would be some relevance” to victim’s toxicology results.

On March 1, Hunt’s defense team filed two motions to preserve evidence, namely materials available to test for DNA analysis as well as “all original and unedited civilian DVR, video captures and surveillance video.”

During the March 27 hearing, Henager asked Chambers to grant the defense’s motions to preserve evidence, as crime labs have already requested to fully use it up with their testing.

Citing his 30-year career, Soos said the he knows that evidence must be preserved. “If we don’t preserve, the case could be dismissed,” he said.

In his ruling, Chambers encouraged Soos to “reach out to the different agencies,” directing them to preserve evidence.

In other matters during the March 27 hearing, Chambers determined that Ziemba and Henager are fully qualified to represent Hunt in a capital case.

Chambers also disclosed a prior professional relationship with former Gila County attorney Joe Albo, a victim’s relative and representative. He pointed out that Albo also serves as a pro tempore judge in Gila County.

While believing there is no conflict, Chamber said he thought the defense should know it anyway.

Should the defense wish to file a motion to disqualify him from the case, Chambers recommended that an out-of-county judge make the decision.

On Nov. 11, 2018, Cristi Licano, 44, and Daniel Albo, 22, were pronounced dead at the scene, while victims Ashley Sanchez and Charlene (Charlie) Peak, both age 22, were airlifted to Valley trauma centers for their critical injuries. Sanchez succumbed to her injuries on Nov. 15.

A fifth victim, 32-year-old Scott Mills, was shot at during the incident but was “able to run for cover and he was not hit by any of the gunman’s bullets,” according to Globe Police Chief Dale Walters.

During press conferences in November, Walters described the scenario in which Albo, Sanchez and Peak had gone to the back patio of Jammerz Bar for a smoke, while Hunt went to the front.

While the three were smoking, Hunt went to the back patio and opened fire. He then left the back patio, encountering Mills and Licano and shot at them, Walters said.

Hunt had played pool with the victims earlier that night, he said.