Police brief

A preliminary hearing was continued Wednesday in the trial of Ramadan

Dokovic, the man accused of shooting a 49-year-old Newport Beach resident

several times in broad daylight on May 18.

Last month, Downey resident Dokovic, 42, pleaded not guilty to the

murder charge.

According to police and witnesses, Dokovic shot Miroslav Maric as the

two sat in a black Mercedes-Benz convertible parked at a Jack in the Box

restaurant at the corner of 17th Street and Tustin Avenue in Costa Mesa.

People at the shopping center who saw the shooting said Dokovic was

calm and relaxed during and after the incident. Dokovic casually shot

Maric several times and then smoked a cigarette, several witnesses

reported.

No information is available yet on the motive behind the alleged crime

or even how the two men knew each other.

Police have declined to talk about the case. Officials say releasing

any further information could jeopardize their investigation.

The case has had several bizarre twists, capped off when officials

released conflicting reports about Maric’s time of death. Hospital

officials at the Western Medical Center in Santa Ana said Maric was

pronounced dead at 3:30 p.m. May 22, but the Orange County coroner had

entered the time of his death as 11:15 a.m. May 21.

The preliminary hearing has been rescheduled for Sept. 25 at Harbor

Justice Center.