A 20-year-old Wahiawa man charged with attempted murder after two people were injured by a car in Ewa Beach last month is scheduled to appear at a Circuit Court trial in August.

Malik Morton entered a plea of not guilty Tuesday from jail through a closed-circuit video teleconference. Circuit Judge Richard Perkins assigned the case to Circuit Judge Glenn Kim and set the trial to begin the week of Aug. 1. Morton, a former Leilehua High School football player, is being held at the Oahu Community Correctional Center unable to post bail of $1 million.

Morton was indicted by an Oahu grand jury May 25 on one count of first-degree attempted murder, two counts of second-degree attempted murder and one of terroristic threatening.

Morton allegedly drove a car into a group of 30 to 40 people in Ewa Beach on May 17, injuring two teenagers, including 18-year-old Alisha Brown, who has remained in a coma.

Morton and his friends got into an argument with other people at the party in the middle of Fort Weaver Road near Kilaha Street, according to a deputy prosecutor.

Brown and 17-year-old Ryan Ilar were taken to the hospital after witnesses told police that they saw Morton speeding in a zigzag motion as he accelerated toward the crowd in the road. Ilar was treated and released.

Morton’s lawyer, Victor Bakke, calls this a case of self-defense.