Lawyer to Be Tried on Drug Charge : Courts: The former public defender is accused of distributing cocaine. His three brothers are linked to a crime ring, police say.

A former public defender whose three brothers have been linked by police to the Bryant Family crime ring in Lake View Terrace was ordered Monday to stand trial in San Fernando Superior Court on cocaine distribution charges.

Kenneth Eugene Settle, 37, of Sylmar is scheduled to be arraigned Nov. 4 on one count of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and eight counts of cocaine sales with the special allegation that he was accompanied by an armed associate, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Michael J. Grosbard.

Settle, who is in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail, served as a public defender for four months in 1988. He was working as a private attorney, with a limited practice, when he was arrested this month, prosecutors said.

During a two-day preliminary hearing, San Fernando Police Officer Jim Pollick testified that he arranged for two informants to purchase cocaine from Settle eight times between Sept. 28 and Oct. 2.

Settle was arrested Oct. 2 along with two other men outside a Sylmar bowling alley after the informants bought an ounce of rock cocaine from Settle, Pollick said.

Frank Garcia, 25, and Eric Lido Estrada, 18, both of San Fernando, are charged with conspiring with Settle in two of the sales.

Police say three of Settle’s brothers are tied to the Bryant Family crime ring, which authorities believe oversees drug operations in 20 to 25 cities in the United States and is responsible for 18 slayings since 1982.

Two of his brothers, Jon Preston Settle, 31, and William Gene Settle, 33, are charged in the Aug. 28, 1988, killing of a 2-year-old girl, her mother and two men in Lake View Terrace over a drug deal.

A third brother, Andrew Settle, 28, faces one count of drug conspiracy.

Jon Preston Settle had eluded capture for nearly three years and was featured on the television program “America’s Most Wanted.” He was captured in Koreatown on Aug. 6 as he left an apartment building.