SPOKANE, Wash. — If the current schedule holds, Bryan Kohberger will stand trial next summer for the murder of four University of Idaho students. The question that still hangs in the balance: Where will that trial happen?
Kohberger is accused of killing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin at a home near the U of I campus in November 2022.
The state has indicated it will seek the death penalty if convicted.
For many months, Kohberger’s attorneys have asserted that the trial needs to be moved out of Latah County.
They said the media exposure and high-profile nature of the case make it impossible for a fair jury to be seated.
“The right to a fair trial cannot happen in Latah County,” said Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s defense attorney. “There is way too much media coverage, it is biased media coverage, it has impacted the potential juror.”
The defense has previously asked that the trial be moved to Ada County.
In court Thursday, the defense called witnesses that included an expert who showed how often people in each county – Latah and Ada – would have been exposed to media coverage of the case.
The expert showed that Latah County had more coverage of the case than Ada County and the story nationwide; that is not unexpected, as Latah County is where the murders took place.
He showed that the more time has passed, the more the coverage has been steady in Latah County as compared to declining in the rest of the country.
Prosecutors argued that just because there has been extensive coverage of the murders and Kohberger’s arrest it doesn’t mean an unbiased jury can’t be seated.
“The fact is your honor, this case has media coverage everywhere. That is something that was acknowledged by the defense, and something that was abundantly clear in these surveys,” said deputy district attorney Ingrid Batey.
The prosecutor has also argued that moving the trial to Ada County would be expensive and also disruptive for the victims’ families.
Kohberger, who was a graduate student at nearby Washington State University at the time, was in court Thursday. He was wearing as a suit, as he has in past hearings, and appeared to be following along with the arguments as they were made.
In the end, Judge John Judge did not make a ruling Thursday on whether the trial would stay in Moscow or get relocated to Boise. He ended Thursday’s hearing saying this is probably the hardest decision he has made in his entire career.
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