Brando Son Gets New Lawyer : Crime: Defense veteran Robert Shapiro hopes to settle murder case without trial.

The son of actor Marlon Brando, facing a murder charge in the shooting death of his half-sister’s lover, switched lawyers Monday, replacing civil rights attorney William Kunstler with noted criminal defense counsel Robert L. Shapiro.

Shapiro said he will meet with prosecutors to try to resolve the Christian Brando case without a trial.

“It’s a horrible human event,” Shapiro said of the fatal shooting last month of Dag Drollet. “Both Dag’s father and Marlon are soon to be grandfathers of the same child,” he said, adding that both families have been devastated by the killing.

Brando’s daughter, Cheyenne, is pregnant with Drollet’s child.

Shapiro, who formerly represented Beverly Hills murder defendant Erik Menendez, said he will handle the bulk of the case, with Kunstler, of New York, a Brando family friend, continuing as “senior adviser.”

Dan Stormer, Brando’s previous Los Angeles attorney, has been released, Shapiro said. Neither Kunstler nor Stormer are experienced in handling murder cases.

Shapiro said the elder Brando hired him to represent Christian because the actor wanted a seasoned criminal defense lawyer whose practice is based in Southern California.

The younger Brando, 32, appeared briefly in a West Los Angeles courtroom Monday to schedule a preliminary hearing, but legal proceedings were postponed until June 25 while defense experts reconstruct the murder scene at his father’s Mulholland Drive estate and conduct a second autopsy.

Drollet’s parents attended the hearing, but the elder Brando was not present.

Wearing a white shirt, tan slacks and handcuffs, the defendant bowed his head, answering “yes” twice in a husky voice when asked if he agreed to a new lawyer and postponement of the proceeding to set a preliminary hearing.

“He’s very sad, very depressed, very emotional and very scared,” Shapiro said outside court.

The attorney added that, while it is “a little premature” to hold plea bargain talks with prosecutors, he hopes to settle the case without a preliminary hearing or trial. Typical plea bargain arrangements involve a defendant pleading no contest to the charges, or admitting guilt to lesser charges.

Brando is charged with shooting Drollet, 26, whom Brando says he suspected of beating his half-sister.

Prosecutors said Drollet was shot in the back of the head while watching television.

But Brando, who has admitted the shooting to police, maintains it was an accident that occurred while the two were wrestling for a .45-caliber handgun.

Along with murder, Christian Brando, who remains in custody without bail, is charged with illegally possessing a machine gun and a silencer. He has pleaded innocent to all charges.

If convicted of first-degree murder, Brando could be sentenced to 25 years to life in state prison. Prosecutors are not seeking the death penalty.