DADE CITY, Fla. — A circuit court judge pushed back the trial date for Curtis Reeves, 76, from a tentatively scheduled October 5 to October 19 due to conflict with witness schedules.

“Listen, we thought that the last trial date was etched in stone," said Rick Escobar, an attorney for Reeves. "We actually got our accommodations over here nearby and paid for it and what have you. So, now we’ve got to change those, as well. I think we’re going to be trying this case in October.” 

Last month, Judge Kemba Johnson Lewis set a tentative trial date of October 5 for Reeves, who faces second-degree murder charges. Assistant State Attorney Glenn Martin told her two potential witnesses — a medical examiner and a firearms expert — expected to be out of town during parts of the expected three-week length of the trial.

Escobar told Lewis a witness for the defense, a radiologist who also testified during Reeves’ Stand Your Ground hearing, isn’t available until the beginning of what was expected to be the third week of the trial. He said he thought that was something that could be worked around, but agreed to the new start date of Oct. 19.

The case has seen a number of delays during the past six years, most recently related to changes in Florida's Stand Your Ground law. While a judge initially rejected Reeves' claim of a Stand Your Ground defense, the law changed in 2017 to shift the burden of proof from the defense to the prosecution.

Late last year, the state Supreme Court ruled that Stand Your Ground decisions before 2017 should remain intact, meaning Reeves’ case could move forward.

Lewis told the court the purpose of Wednesday’s status check was to work out potential issues like this scheduling conflict to ensure the long-delayed trial is on track to take place this fall. She gave attorneys a head's up that she’d like talks about how to move forward with jury selection to begin this spring, given that the case has had a lot of media attention.

When scheduling conflicts arose amongst attorneys for other trial preparations, she urged both sides to prioritize this case since it’s been making its way through the courts since 2014.