Trial Set for Man Accused in Biofem Death Plot

The alleged getaway driver in the botched murder conspiracy against an Irvine medical products company chief has been ordered to stand trial in September.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Francisco P. Briseno on Friday set a Sept. 11 trial date for Dino D’Saachs, who pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder. A pretrial hearing was scheduled for July 28.

D’Saachs, 56, a Los Angeles tax accountant, was also charged with possessing a firearm when he allegedly helped the gunman escape.

Prosecutors said D’Saachs discussed details of the plot and arranged for pictures to be taken of James Patrick Riley, the chief executive of Biofem Pharmaceutical Inc., seven months before the attack.

A hooded gunman wounded Riley on Feb. 28 in the parking lot of the company’s Irvine office.

Police arrested D’Saachs a day later, charging him as the getaway driver.

Riley’s Biofem business partner, Dr. Larry C. Ford, committed suicide a day after police searched his home in connection with the shooting.

D’Saachs, a longtime friend of Ford’s, was near the company’s office in his van the morning of the shooting, said his attorney, Henry Salcido.

Salcido declined to say what his client was doing at the time or whether D’Saachs knows the identity of the gunman.