NEAH BAY — Makah Tribal Court officials have scheduled a status hearing on Friday for five men who killed a gray whale in September.

The session could determine when the Makah men's tribal trial will begin.

The men also face an April 8 trial in federal court on charges that each broke the 1972 Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Friday's tribal hearing is expected to be a conference call, since three of the men are represented by attorneys from Port Orchard, Seattle and Tacoma, and the other two are defended by a lawyer from Yakima.

The latter attorney, Jack Fiander — who is representing Wayne Johnson and Andrew Noel, both of Neah Bay — has moved that the tribe's charges be dropped because of time that has elapsed since the five men were charged Nov. 23 and arraigned Dec. 11.

The Makah Law and Order Code requires a trial within 30 days of arraignment.

On Friday, 79 days will have passed.

The defendants — which also include Frankie Gonzales, Theron Parker and William Secor Sr., all of Neah Bay — are each charged with violating the tribe's Gray Whale Management Plan, breaking state and federal laws, and reckless endangerment for firing a high-powered rifle over water at the whale they killed Sept. 8.

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