BOISE, Idaho — Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, appeared in a Latah County courtroom Wednesday afternoon, where the presiding judge was expected to make decisions on three key issues in his capitol murder case.
In Wednesday's hearing, Judge John Judge was scheduled to address three key issues: Additional access to the investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) material for defense team members, a Change of Venue motion and most anticipated, a trial date.
For the majority of the hour-and-a-half long hearing, Judge heard arguments for trial scheduling and the defense's request for a change of venue due to the publicity surrounding the case and concerns for a potentially tainted jury that may be summoned from such a small county.
IGG:
Only a few defense team members have been granted access to the IGG information. Those individuals include, three defense counsel, the defendant, and three other individuals vetted and approved by Judge.
In a February filing, the defense asked the judge to allow additional, unnamed "criminal investigators" unfettered access to the genetic evidence, which is sealed.
“This request is grounded in Mr. Kohberger’s 6th Amendment right to effective assistance of counsel and counsel’s ongoing duty to investigate the case brought against Mr. Kohberger,” Kohberger's attorney Anne Taylor wrote in the motion. “Access to these materials is necessary to investigate how and when Mr. Kohberger was identified as a suspect.”
In response, the court stated:
Only defense counsel (Anne Taylor, Jay Logsdon, and Elisa Massoth), Defendant (Bryan Kohberger), and Dr. Leah Larkin, Bicka Barlow, and Steven Mercer, may view the materials provided...Any further dissemination of the materials or the information contained within the materials, must first be approved by the Court after an adequate showing by the defense as to why such information is necessary and material to the preparation of the defense.
In Wednesday's hearing, Judge maintained his position on needing "adequate" reasoning for expanding access the IGG materials.
Change of Venue:
In regard to moving Kohberger's trial out of Latah County, his defense team argued that the change is necessary due to the county's limited jury pool and potential bias in the community.
In a Jan. 30 motion filed by the defense, Taylor argues that a "fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County owing to the extensive, inflammatory pretrial publicity, allegations made about Mr. Kohberger." The motion went on to state, "Latah County does not have a large enough population center to avoid the bias in the community."
To this argument, the court responded, "Publicity is not a stand-alone reason for a court to change venue."
However, in Wednesday's hearing, Taylor asked the judge to make a determination for the Change of Venue motion and set a realistic date for the discovery deadline before setting a trial date.
To which Judge agreed, setting a Change of Venue court date for April 17 to hear further arguments from the defense.
In an additional win for Kohberger's defense team, Judge did not set a trial date.
Trial Date:
"I'm not comfortable setting trial in 2025, it seems so far away," Judge said in opening arguments pertaining to the setting of a trial date.
The main argument for when the murder trial may begin lies in the abundant amount of evidence, discovery and IGG material in the case.
To start, Judge addressed Latah County Prosecuting Attorney William Thompson and asked when he could be done providing discovery for the defense. To which, Thompson replied "the end of this summer."
Thompson went on to say that two team members have been specifically assigned to the task of filtering through discovery material. He then concluded with a timeframe of "...at the end of August, first of September of this year."
Taylor rebutted, stating that if the discovery material is provided to the defense on the proposed deadline, that a "June 2025 [trial] date would be great." "I still have a long way to go," Taylor added.
Following the suggested June date, Ingrid Batey, Special Assistant Deputy Attorney General, brought the previously discussed Change of Venue motion back to the forefront of the conversation, stating that it doesn't make sense to set a trial date without first establishing the venue.
In brief, Judge ultimately said that the decision to set a trial date will be tabled until after a decision is made on where the trial will take place.
As previously mentioned, arguments regarding the trial venue will not be heard until April 17. Even so, Judge likely won't make a decision on the venue until May.
Background:
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen. The four students were found stabbed to death in a house on King Road, near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow on Nov. 13, 2022.
In early January, Judge John Judge heard motions to dismiss the grand jury indictment against Kohberger, as well as a motion to appeal the indictment to the Idaho Supreme Court. The judge ultimately denied those motions. It was at that time both the prosecution and defense tried to schedule a date for a trial but determined it may not happen for some time.
Later in January, the defense filed a motion to move the trial out of Latah County. Court documents show Kohberger's attorneys argue that a fair and impartial jury comprised of Latah County residents couldn't exist due to the case's "extensive, inflammatory pretrial publicity" and the "small size of the community," even in the case of extending the jury pool.
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