Phoenix Ikner’s court-appointed public defender recently bowed out of the case, citing a conflict of interest.
The trial of a Florida State University student charged with a campus shooting that resulted in the deaths of two people and injured six others has been delayed until next October.
This recent delay in the proceedings of Phoenix Ikner, a 21-year-old student, follows his previous lawyer, a court-appointed public defender, withdrawing from the case due to a conflict of interest. Ikner now has a new legal team assigned to him.
Ikner has entered a plea of not guilty to two charges of first-degree murder and seven charges of attempted first-degree murder in connection with the shooting that caused chaos at the university in Florida’s capital.
The trial was originally scheduled to begin the week of November 3, was then moved to late March, and now, Circuit Judge Lance Neff has again postponed it, setting a new date for October 19, 2026. This new date is almost a year after the trial was first expected to commence.
Ikner is the stepson of a local sheriff’s deputy, and investigators say he used his stepmother’s former service weapon to carry out the shooting.
Prosecutors in the case said they intend to seek the death penalty.
___ Kate Payne is a member of the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit organization that connects journalists with local newsrooms to cover topics that are often overlooked.
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