FAIRBANKS — A Fairbanks judge said Wednesday that he is unlikely to allow further delays in the trial of a man implicated in last year’s gang shootout on College Road.

Twenty-three-year-old Arron Young, a reputed member of the Crips street gang, has been incarcerated at the Fairbanks Correctional Center since August 2008. He is scheduled to go on trial on three counts of attempted murder the week of Jan. 4.

Young was the sole person arrested after the occupants of two speeding vehicles were seen firing guns at each other Aug. 18, 2008 on College Road, between Aurora Drive and Danby Street.

Three people in a green Buick said they were shot at by people inside a silver Isuzu SUV. The Buick had been struck by multiple bullets fired from a handgun.

Several moving vehicles also were hit by bullets, and a bicyclist on the sidewalk took cover as the bullets flew. No injuries were reported.

The case, once scheduled to go to trial in August 2009, has dragged for more than a year as prosecutors continued to gather evidence. Assistant district attorney Elizabeth Crail has also said delays were necessary because she planned to call Army soldiers deployed to Iraq with Fort Wainwright’s 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry, to testify.

Most members of the brigade did not return to Alaska until September of this year. At least two of the people involved in the shooting were Fort Wainwright soldiers.

Jennifer Hite, Young’s public defender, said in addition to having to deal with a heavier than usual workload of cases from Fairbanks and Barrow, investigators in her office have had trouble subpoenaing witnesses, causing further delays.

“Many of these individuals aren’t that interested in coming to court in this particular case,” she said.

Hite has also filed a motion for a change of venue. Crail argued a change of venue is unnecessary unless a suitable jury can’t be found.

“Our victims have a right to a speedy resolution,” Crail said. “This is not a complicated matter.”

If the case does not go to trial in the first week of January, Crail said that issues with witness availability could delay the trial for several more months.

Hite has not formally asked to delay the trial again but said that she will seek a continuance if a witness cannot be contacted.

Superior Court Judge Michael MacDonald appeared visibly frustrated at times during Wednesday’s hearing. He said the lawyers were going to trial “unless there’s some constitutional issue we can’t.”

“The defense cannot keep the case from going to trial by asking for more time for investigation and to subpoena witnesses,” he said. “Otherwise, no case would ever go to trial.”