A Douglas County judge Wednesday declined to reduce bond for a 27-year-old Lawrence man who faces an attempted murder charge related to a April 1 shooting in northern Lawrence.

Defense attorney James Rumsey said in court that his client, William J. Verner, had turned himself in last week on a warrant. Rumsey said he might argue that an aggravated battery charge is more appropriate. Prosecutors, who filed an attempted intentional second-degree murder count, accuse Verner of shooting a 22-year-old Lawrence man about 3:30 a.m. April 1 outside an apartment in the 1300 block of Michigan Way, which is just north of Lawrence Memorial Hospital.

“In reading the affidavit in this case, it appears that whoever shot the fellow that was wounded that it was as more of a random shooting” as opposed to a deliberate action, Rumsey said.

But District Judge Michael Malone agreed with prosecutors’ request to keep Verner’s bond at $75,000 based on the severity of the charge and because Verner had a conviction from eight years ago related to a burglary. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for May 9.