Yellowknife (Aug 27/03) - A first-degree murder charge against one of the men implicated in the death of a local drug dealer has been dropped.

Dale Arnold Coutoreille, 42, will no longer face a murder charge in the June slaying of Justin Hai Van Vo.

Crown attorney Andrew Fox replaced it with one count of endangering life and a charge of being an accessory after the fact.

Police found Vo's charred body near the Yellowknife River Bridge on June 16.

Fox is alleging that Coutoreille assaulted the 35-year-old reputed drug king-pin and helped three other men escape.

The trio charged with murdering Vo - Francis Paul Yukon, Richard Harrison Tutin and Gerald Anthony Delorme - also appeared in court Tuesday. Yukon and Tutin were remanded to Sept. 4, to set a date for their preliminary hearing. Delorme will be back in court on Sept. 9.

The four men have been in custody since June 28, when they were arrested in a series of late-night raids.