But, Ikner’s defense attorney, Peter Mills, objected, saying he needs time to investigate and stressed that the suspected gunman has a right to effective counsel.

“I object to that judge. I am still investigating the case. My client is entitled to effective assistance of counsel,” Mills said.

At one point, Mills asked the judge if he meant November of 2025, or perhaps he misheard and the date was 2026.

“2025,” the judge said.

The judge asked Mills why he hadn’t yet begun discovery, which is the formal process of sharing evidence expected to be presented at trial.

Ikner’s defense attorney said he intends to file that demand for discovery in the next week.

 Multiple killed, injured after shooting at Florida State University:

State Attorney Jack Campbell told the court there is a tremendous amount of evidence in the case, especially videos.

Because the defense hadn’t yet asked for discovery, he asked the judge to set a schedule. However, Campbell said the November trial date could slip a year or more because of the amount of data.

And, Campbell said once discovery starts it is available to the public via open records laws. He said that might be disturbing for some in the community, especially victims.

“And I don’t want some parent to see their child. I don’t want some student to see themself in that compromised in that setting where it creates emotional stress,” Campbell said.

The judge set a case management hearing for August 13 and a discovery deadline of October 1.

Ikner was expected to attend the Wednesday morning court hearing, but ultimately did not attend either in person or via Zoom.

On Monday, Judge Neff ordered Ikner to be transported from the Wakulla County Jail and appear in court for Wednesday’s hearing.

However, Ikner’s defense attorney filed a last-minute waiver of appearance Tuesday.

Campbell said that if the concern is media coverage tainting the jury pool, he believes the judge will ultimately be able to pick a jury when trial rolls around, whenever that is.

“If we were talking about Liberty County, if we were talking about Jefferson County, that may be a little bit harder,” he said. “But Tallahassee, we have lots of people who candidly don’t read the media, they don’t get the paper, they don’t watch the nightly news.”

Campbell pointed to other high profile cases, like the murder of Dan Markel, which received lots of media publicity but where a jury was ultimately picked.

“The last time I think that we had to move was Bundy. And in Tallahassee you’re talking [the] 1970s, 50 years ago, it was a much smaller community and that was pretty sensational case,” he said.

To keep up with the latest news as it develops, follow WCTV on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Nextdoor and X (Twitter).

Have a news tip or see an error? Write to us here. Please include the article’s headline in your message.

Be the first to see all the biggest headlines by downloading the WCTV News app. Click here to get started.

Copyright 2025 WCTV. All rights reserved.

Most Read

Latest News