EDMONTON - A tentative trial date has been set for two men charged with first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of four Alberta RCMP officers.

Shawn Hennessey, 29, and his brother-in-law Dennis Cheeseman, 24, are to plead on the charge Sept 12. If the case goes to trial, it is to begin April 5 - more than four years after the Mounties were killed - and run to June 29.

Hennessey and Cheeseman are accused of somehow helping James Roszko, who gunned down the Mounties near Mayerthorpe in March 2005 before killing himself.

Police have not said what the two men - both from nearby Barrhead - allegedly did.

Constables Leo Johnston, Peter Schiemann, Brock Myrol and Anthony Gordon were shot while guarding a Quonset hut with stolen property and a marijuana grow operation on Roszko's property.

Hennessey and Cheeseman, who were released on bail last spring, did not appear in court Friday.