ORLANDO, Fla. – The trial of the wife of the Pulse nightclub gunman will start March 1, 2018, a federal judge ruled Thursday during a status hearing in Orlando.
Jury selections will begin March 1. The court will send out notifications to 1,000 potential jurors in middle district of Florida, including Tampa.
U.S. District Judge Paul Byron said he expects jury selection to take two to three weeks.
Because of the sensitivity of the case, the judge asked the defense and prosecution to come up with a questionnaire for all potential jurors. Before the trial begins both teams will read over the questionnaire that will be 20-25 pages and decide who can be eliminated.
Byron said this process should speed up jury selection come March 1.
[MORE: Full coverage of Pulse nightclub shooting]
Court papers filed last week had suggested that Noor Salman's trial could start as early as June, close to the one year mark after the mass shooting.
Salman is charged with obstruction and aiding and abetting her husband, Omar Mateen, who opened fire at Pulse, a gay nightclub, last June.
Forty-nine people were killed and more than 50 were injured in the worst mass shooting in recent U.S. history.
Next, defense and U.S. attorneys will exchange evidence during April and May. Prosecutors said they have more than 100,000 pages of documents and hours of video evidence against Salman.
Federal prosecutors also filed a motion seeking to stop the public release of any records used in preparing for trial.
When asked about the timeline Salman’s attorney Charles Swift said the defense team will be ready.
Salman will stay in jail up to her trial date.