Murder trial - not May; July 30

Back in December, the attorney for Timothy Smith told Judge Condon that they didn't need any more court dates before trial, and the trial date was set for May 7, 2012. Smith will go on trial on a First Degree Murder charge for shooting and killing Kurt Milliman on May 28, 2011.

Today I was discussing this case progress with a reader, and I said that I thought the day before the trial started, Smith would fire his public defender and retain a private attorney, which would put the case off for another 5-6 months while the new attorney came up to speed.

When I looked in the online court records for the court date, I learned that on April 13, just last Friday, Smith was granted a continuance and a new trial date of July 30 has been set.

Perhaps I overlooked a report in the Northwest Herald about this change in trial date. Did anyone else see it there?

Smith's wife, Kimberly Holian Smith, is in hot water on her own set of charges, and her next court date is April 26. No trial date has been set in her case. How do you suppose that cases like these, almost open-and-shut cases, can drag on this way, and then still drag on longer?