JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – At a pretrial hearing Thursday for Michael Dunn, the man accused of shooting and killing 17-year-old Jordan Davis, attorneys agreed to reschedule the trial from next month to early in 2014.
Dunn is charged with murder in the death of Davis during in a dispute over loud music outside a Gate station last November.
Dunn claims self-defense after thinking he saw a gun in the SUV that Davis (pictured, right) and other friends were in, but police said no weapon was found in or around the vehicle.
Dunn's attorney asked for a continuance in the case and it was unopposed by the state attorney's office. Defense attorney Cory Strolla said he has to interview about 100 witnesses to get ready for the trial.
No trial date was set, but it was not expected to take place until January or early February.
Davis' parents, who were in the courtroom Thursday, say it is never easy to see Dunn's face.
"You want to some compassion, even for the person who shot your child, you want to have a little compassion for him and his family, but it's very hard to do that when he has no remorse," said Ron Davis, Jordan's father.
"How can he live with himself as a human being and not have any consideration for what he's done, for the lives he's destroyed," said Lucy McBath, Jordan's mother. "I find it heinous, and I feel really sorry for him."
Strolla, Dunn's attorney, said Dunn does feel remorse. He added that Dunn's mother also feels like she has also lost a son.
McBath flies in from Atlanta for every court proceeding. She and Davis are ready for this case to close.
"A lot of things are going to happen that they're going to have to relive and try to get in the mind of a man who said, 'You're not going to talk to me like that,' fired 10 shots, went and ordered pizza, never calling the cops, and try to understand and fit that within the definition of humanity, and it's impossible," said John Phillips, attorney for the Davis family.
But the support and compassion of the teen's parents' communities and from across the nation has made dealing with the reality of this nightmare a little easier.
"We're grateful," McBath said. "We cannot thank you enough because it keeps us lifted and it keeps us going forward, and we know what we're doing is for everyone and not just for Jordan."
Dunn's next pretrial date is Sept. 19.