BOISE, Idaho — A district court judge overseeing Bryan Kohberger's court proceedings has denied the defendant's two motions to dismiss an indictment submitted by the grand jury. Kohberger is accused of quadruple murder.
In court documents filed Friday, Dec. 15, Latah County Judge John Judge ruled on the defendant's two motions to dismiss a grand jury indictment, arguing the jury received inaccurate instruction and was biased. To reach a conclusion on both motions, the court reviewed grand jury transcripts, audio, exhibits, jury instructions and jury questions.
In July, the defendant filed a "Motion to Dismiss Indictment on "Grounds of Error in Grand Jury Instructions or in the Alternative Remand for the Preliminary Hearing." They argued the grand jury made an error due to being misled into believing to justify an indictment they needed to reach "probable cause" and not the higher stand of "beyond reasonable doubt."
The court addressed the defendant's argument in a 13-page document; the standard of proof for a grand jury to issue an indictment is "probable cause." Within their argument, they reviewed the Idaho law and said the defendant's argument misinterprets the "plain language" of the statute.
Later, Judge addressed the defendant's argument that there was a conflict between the Idaho code and the grand jury rules, and said it has long been resolved in Idaho law.
"The arguments from the defense for 'beyond reasonable doubt' standard for the grand jury were historically interesting and creative, but do not overturn Idaho courts' interpretation of the statute, the case law, and the Criminal Rules, specifically Rule through 6.8 I.C.R., that the standard for the grand jury to indict is 'probable cause," the court stated.
For the August motion to dismiss the indictment on grounds of juror bias, the Judge said the defendant failed to challenge the indictment.
"Kohberger was indicted by an impartial grand jury who had sufficient admissible evidence to find probable cause to believe Kohberger committed the crimes alleged by the state. Further, the state did not engage in prosecutorial misconduct in presenting their case to the jury," Judge stated.
A trial date has yet to be set in the State of Idaho v. Bryan Kohberger case.
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