Judge delays Michael Dunn's murder retrial

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The retrial for Michael Dunn in the shooting death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis has been delayed.

At a hearing Wednesday, the judge set a pretrial date for the week of June 9, when a trial date will be set.

The retrial on the murder charge had been scheduled to begin May 5.

Dunn's new lawyer, Waffa Hanania, took over the case March 10 and on Tuesday filed a motion for a continuance to give herself more time to prepare.

Legal analyst Rhonda Peoples-Waters said between now and the pretrial hearing, Dunn's attorney will have a lot of catching up to do on the case.

"A lot of this will definitely be making sure they comb through the transcripts and understand the testimony of each of the witnesses, trying to decide if there's any additional hearings or motions they can file on behalf of Mr. Dunn," she said. "But it's more about strategizing and making sure they know exactly what these witnesses have already said."

As for a possible trial date, Peoples-Waters said she doesn't expect it to be any time before September and possibly as late as December.

Peoples-Waters said Dunn's former attorney, Cory Strolla, still has responsibilities in this case.

"Technically, Strolla is not off his case for those additional counts that have already been resolved by a jury, and he would still have to make sure he presented any witnesses on behalf of Mr. Dunn and argue to the judge for what he believes is a fair sentence."

Dunn was convicted in February of three counts of attempted second-degree murder and one count of firing into an occupied vehicle. A mistrial was declared on the murder charge.

Dunn claim's self-defense in the November 2012 killing.