Two weeks after a judge set a firm trial date for the accused gunman in the April 17 mass shooting at Florida State University, his lawyer is asking once again to push it back.
In a motion filed Sept. 25, Blake Johnson, the appointed attorney for Phoenix Ikner, asked Leon Circuit Judge Lance Neff for a continuance or alternatively to refer the matter to the chief judge to decide.
Ikner, 20, is charged with two counts of first-degree murder and seven counts of attempted first-degree murder in the mass shooting. He faces the death penalty if convicted.
Two people, Robert Morales, a 57-year-old dining coordinator at FSU, and Tiru Chabba, a 45-year-old Aramark employee from Greenville, South Carolina, were killed in the attack. Five students were shot and injured and later released from the hospital.
The request followed a Sept. 10 hearing in which Neff set trial for March 30, 2026, telling Johnson that gave him “way more time than what the Supreme Court deems as required” to prepare. Later, Neff told the parties the date was “not aspirational,” according to the defense motion.
Johnson said in the filing that the state has listed more than 250 witnesses, a number he said would “no doubt grow,” and that there are hundreds if not thousands of hours of video. He said he would have to simultaneously prepare for a possible penalty phase if Ikner is convicted and noted a heavy death penalty caseload at the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel
“Given the volume of materials and complexity of the guilt phase investigation alone, it is impossible to be adequately prepared for a capital trial in just over 200 days given our current capital caseload,” Johnson wrote.
He added that his agency has two death-qualified attorneys to cover six judicial circuits spanning 32 counties. He said Ikner’s trial date will conflict with one of three other death penalty cases that are set for trial and that his office is litigating three other capital cases, one in Leon County, that haven’t gotten trial dates yet.
Johnson also represents Chloe Spencer, who is facing murder charges in the May 19 abuse death of her 5-year-old daughter, Missy Mogle. Daniel Spencer, Missy’s stepfather, also is charged with murder in Missy’s death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against both of them.
Johnson cited Florida’s Rules of Criminal Procedure, which state that claims of excessive caseload in a death penalty case “should be referred to the chief judge.” He cited case law saying that the Constitution requires a heightened degree of reliability because the death penalty is “unique in both is severity and finality.”
Contact Jeff Burlew at jburlew@tallahassee.com or 850-599-2180.
This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: ‘Impossible’: Lawyer for accused FSU gunman seeks more time to prepare for murder trial
Reporting by Jeff Burlew, Tallahassee Democrat / Tallahassee Democrat
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