DOWNTOWN TALLAHASSEE, FL — Phoenix Ikner, the suspected gunman in the Florida State University campus shooting, made his first in-person court appearance Tuesday as attorneys debated the trial timeline and discovery deadlines in the case. That trial is currently scheduled to begin in October.
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Defense attorney Blake Johnson argued the "voluminous" amount of evidence in the case would prevent the defense from meeting the state's request for an accelerated discovery deadline.
"In order for us to hire experts, we've got to give those experts records to rely on. And if this court were to order us to list all our experts by this arbitrary cutoff date, we would be unprepared," Johnson said.
Judge Lance Neff pushed back on that argument, saying the case is not "complex" and that additional time would not change the objective evidence already available.
"I guess my question for you is, if something is on an objective source of evidence, such as videotape, what does it help you to get subjective testimony from 20, 50, 100 other witnesses who saw the same thing when you have the videotape of the alleged event?" Neff said.
The Defense argued that they need to call experts who can speak to mental health.
The State said if the Defense plans to use mental health as part of their argument, prosecutors also need more time to vet those arguments.
"Once they do get witnesses from Norway that say that there's some justification, I'm planning on responding and responding with great strength," State Attorney Jack Campbell said.
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Judge Neff did not make an immediate decision on whether to accept the state's request for accelerated deadlines.
"I'll think about the state's motion and the defendant's response as to setting some sort of deadlines for discovery, and I'll let you all know," Neff said.
Judge Neff said he would schedule a hearing for late June, where all pending motions will be addressed.
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