OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:30 AM – Monday, September 9, 2024
A judge has agreed to move Bryan Kohberger’s trial, in relation to the murders of four University of Idaho students, to a different city in Idaho.
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Judge John C. Judge has ruled to allow Kohberger’s trial to be moved to a different city, due to Kohberger’s lawyers’ concerns that their client would not be able to receive a fair trial at the Latah County courthouse in Moscow, given the extensive media coverage of the case as well as statements by public officials suggesting the suspect’s guilt.
Judge did not specify where the trial would be moved to in Idaho.
He continued, saying that the Latah County courthouse is also not spacious enough to accommodate the case and that the sheriff’s office does not have enough deputies to handle the anticipated security measures.
“Considering the undisputed evidence presented by the defense, the extreme nature of the news coverage in this case, and the smaller population in Latah County, the defense has met the rather low standard of demonstrating ‘reasonable likelihood’ that prejudicial news coverage will compromise a fair trial in Latah County,” the judge wrote in the order granting the change.
Last month, Kohberger’s defense team made the request to the judge, arguing that they had presented a survey, which was conducted by a defense expert, and it exemplified the community’s apparent hostility towards Kohberger from Latah County residents who agreed to take the poll.
In the survey, residents were asked what their response would be if the suspect was not convicted.
“There would likely be a riot and he wouldn’t last long outside because someone would do the good ole’ boy justice,” one poll taker said.
Quoting the survey, the defense argued that the “often inaccurate and inflammatory” media coverage in Latah county affected whether potential jurors would find Kohberger guilty.
Kohberger is currently awaiting trial on multiple counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary related to the deaths of the four students who were tragically killed in the same home.
The victims were identified as Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators tied him to the murders by using DNA evidence found on a knife sheath that was left at the scene, which was located in the bed where Mogen and Goncalves were found dead.
The affidavit also states that during the course of investigating Kohberger’s prior phone location pings, authorities found that at least 12 times before November 13th, 2022, his cell phone’s location was in the same vicinity of the 1122 King Road residence, where the murders occurred.
Kohberger has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial was originally set for October 2nd of this year. However, it was later delayed due to the suspect waiving his right to a speedy trial. It is now tentatively set for sometime in June 2025.
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