SANDPOINT — Accused first-degree murderer Keith Allen Brown is seeking $40,000 in public funds to pay for a defense investigation in his case.

Brown’s court-appointed defense counsel, Dan Sheckler, filed a motion last month requesting the money to fund an investigation by Chuck Schoonover, operator of Action Agency, a Sandpoint company which specializes in criminal defense investigations.

District Judge Fred Gibler declined to rule on the motion and referred the request to Judge John Patrick Luster, the 1st District administrative judge. A hearing date on the funding request is pending, court records show.

Sheckler was appointed to represent Brown earlier this year, after communications broke down with Chief Public Defender Isabella Robertson. Sheckler’s legal fees so far have topped $10,000, court documents indicate.

In other developments in the case, an evidentiary hearing has been scheduled to determine whether Bonner County Sheriff’s investigators deliberately withheld exculpatory information or made false statements to a magistrate court judge in seeking a warrant for Brown’s arrest.

The proceeding, known as a Franks hearing, is set for August 19.

Brown, 48, is accused of shooting Leslie Carlton Breaw at Priest Lake in January 2007. Breaw’s remains were discovered within walking distance of his Coolin home several months later.

The discovery of Breaw’s remains gave way to Brown’s arrest in Fort Myers Beach, Fla. Brown’s wife, Tyrah, was also implicated in Breaw’s death and pleaded to a reduced charge of accessory to second-degree murder.

Keith Brown was originally arrested on a charge alleging grand theft of Breaw’s financial transaction card, but Sheckler has argued authorities were aware of claims that Brown had permission to use the card.

If the defense prevails at the Franks hearing, evidence gained as a result of Brown’s arrest on the theft charge could be suppressed.

Brown remains held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $5 million.

His eight-day jury trial is scheduled to start in March 2010.