One of the three men charged in the ruthless slaying of William Sims walked out of the Martinez Detention Facility last week.

But Daniel Porter-Kelley isn’t a free man — yet.

No, he’s just out on bail.

He faces trial on murder charges in the killing of Sims, 28, a Richmond native who was found beaten and with a gunshot wound to his forehead on the street outside a pool hall in El Sobrante in November.

But here’s the thing about Porter-Kelley’s trial: Since he was arrested on Nov. 16, his attorney has fought to have a speedy trial. California law allows the district attorney up to 60 days to start a trial if a defendant wants to expedite the process, a rare defense request in murder cases.

Instead Mark Peterson, the then-Contra Costa County district attorney who resigned in June after pleading no contest to one count of perjury for making false statements on state campaign disclosure forms, repeatedly delayed the trial.

Porter-Kelley spent seven months in jail before his family was able to pay his $1.08 million bail, pooling together the nonrefundable 10 percent fee charged by bail-bond companies to get suspects released after an arrest.

“He was almost speechless,” Colin Cooper, Porter-Kelley’s attorney, said of the moment his client walked out of the detention facility on July 28.

Cooper recalled that more than five motions just to have bail set were previously denied by the judge.

“It seemed surreal that he was finally out, that he was able to go home,” Cooper said.

The killing made national headlines and disquieted El Sobrante, an unincorporated town of about 13,000. Sims, a well-liked local musician, was black. A sheriff’s sergeant discovered Sims with his face battered and bloodied outside of the Capri Club on Appian Way.

The Contra Costa district attorney’s office originally charged Porter-Kelley, 31, of Richmond, with murder with a hate-crime enhancement. The other two suspects — Ray Simons, 32, of Hercules and Daniel Ortega, 31, of Novato — were charged similarly, and the district attorney sought to put the three men on trial together.

Investigating officers believe it was Simons, while sitting in the back seat of a car that was leaving the pool hall, who fired the shot that killed Sims. Ortega was in the front passenger seat of the car that was driven by Dina Herrera, who is a witness for the prosecution, according to Cooper.

From the interview transcripts and police affidavit that I’ve read, and from the testimony at preliminary hearings that I’ve heard, the case against Porter-Kelley is feeble. Cooper says Porter-Kelley left the Capri Club before the shooting.

Still, the lack of compelling evidence hasn’t stopped the district attorney from letting Porter-Kelley rot in jail. The district attorney hasn’t yet explained to the public Porter-Kelley’s role in Sims’ death — and why he deserves to be charged with murder. And now that Peterson, who pleaded no contest to committing crimes himself, is out, I’m curious to see how the district attorney’s office will proceed.

There’s no wonder why Cooper has been frustrated with the treatment of his client.

Porter-Kelley’s trial was first scheduled for February, but on the last day possible for the trial to start, the district attorney’s office, which had previously been granted two one-week extensions, dismissed all charges.

And then the district attorney refiled, linking the three cases together.

In another attempt to delay Porter-Kelley’s request for a speedy trial, the district attorney convened a criminal grand jury in April. But the move backfired because while the grand jury returned murder indictments against Porter-Kelley, Ortega and Simons in the death of Sims, it rejected the hate-crime enhancement.

So what’s next?

A source told me that the district attorney’s office wants to meet with Porter-Kelley. Maybe a possible deal in exchange for testifying against Simons and Ortega will be discussed. Cooper declined to confirm a meeting had been scheduled. Chris Walpole, the deputy district attorney who has been handling the case in court, didn’t return my call.

Porter-Kelley’s trial is now scheduled to start Dec. 4. Until then, he’ll try to get reacquainted with his life, including playing with his son, who recently celebrated his 4th birthday while his father was behind bars.

“He will go back to work and continue to live the law-abiding, productive life he’s always led,” Cooper said. “We are confident he will be exonerated. The forces arrayed against him have done nothing but treat him unfairly.”

San Francisco Chronicle columnist Otis R. Taylor Jr. appears Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Email: otaylor@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @otisrtaylorjr