Botched contract killing charges dropped

Two Adelaide men ordered to face a retrial after winning their appeals over a botched contract killing have now had their attempted murder charges dropped.

But one, Russell James Logan, pleaded guilty on Monday in the Supreme Court to a new charge of assisting an offender.

Logan, 40, and Brett Matthew Murch, 38 were found guilty in October of the attempted murder of Leonard Gjeka, who was shot at close range at the front door of his home in the Adelaide Hills.

In jailing them for at least nine years in April, Judge Kevin Nicholson described the attempt as having a "calm brutality about it that was chilling", saying it only failed because of the gunman's poor shooting.

But in June the Court of Criminal Appeal allowed their challenges, quashed their convictions and directed a new trial.

"Whether there will be another trial remains for the Director of Public Prosecutions to determine," the three judges said.

The DPP has since dropped the attempted murder charges.

Mr Gjeka, who was on home detention bail at the time, lived with his wife and young children but was alone when a man knocked on the door, disguised as a Telstra maintenance worker.

The man fired at least three shots, leaving Mr Gjeka with a groin wound and the loss of the tip of a finger.

Logan will face a sentence hearing for the assisting an offender offence on Wednesday.