Mark Anthony Gonzales — a suspect in the murder of Chasity Stine — made a brief appearance before a packed courtroom in Las Animas Monday afternoon.
    His attorney, Gail Morrison, asked to schedule a hearing to argue reduction of the $250,000 bond which currently holds Gonzales in place at Bent County Jail.
    Judge Michael Schiferl scheduled the next hearing for Sept. 15 at 1:45 p.m. to review motions and  for a pre-trial conference.
    While waiting for the court session to start, Gonzales waited at a table in the front of the temporary courtroom inside the old middle school. He wore an orange jail uniform and sat quietly alone under the watchful eye of three sheriff's deputies.  Sheriff Gerry Oyen was positioned at the outside front door to watch people entering and leaving the building.
     Most of the spectators in the courtroom were relatives or friends of Chasity Stine, who was murdered in late March in 2007. Her body was recovered at the Black Bridge area a few  miles east of Las Animas near the railroad tracks.
    People associated with other cases and hearings on the court docket spilled out of the doorway and into the hall.
    When the brief hearing was concluded by the judge, most of the audience in the courtroom immediately stood up and  quietly filed out of the room.
    However, Gonzales was moved to a chair on the side of the room, where he waited while another prisoner from Bent County Jail had his case reviewed.
    A few minutes later Gonzales was escorted outside to a waiting jail van. Some of the crowd had  lingered outside to watch Gonzales exit the building.
    District Attorney Rodney Fouracre represented the prosecution