A decide on Thursday laid out a plan for a June 2025 trial date for the person accused of murdering four University of Idaho students nearly two years in the past — an indication that after months of lawyers sparring over legal motions within the high-profile case, each the defendant and victims’ households are nearer to having their day in court docket.
The tentative timeline set by Latah County District Choose John Choose got here because the accused killer, Bryan Kohberger, 29, appeared at a listening to wherein prosecutors agreed to a trial for subsequent summer time.
Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s public defender, mentioned she was additionally “working towards” that point and mentioned it was “affordable.” Choose mentioned he expects the trial may final about three months, together with sentencing if Kohberger is convicted, and requested the attorneys to satisfy varied deadlines.
“I simply do not need to be scrambling a month earlier than the trial,” Choose mentioned.
Given the quantity of consideration and hypothesis over the case, the decide should nonetheless determine whether or not to maneuver the trial out of Latah County, which can delay its begin. Choose is predicted to determine that in August.
Kohberger faces 4 counts of first-degree homicide and housebreaking after prosecutors say he broke into an off-campus house home early Nov. 13, 2022, close to the Moscow, Idaho, college and fatally stabbed roommates Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; and Xana Kernodle, 20. Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, 20, was additionally killed inside the house with a big fixed-blade knife that investigators mentioned was not discovered on the scene.
Choose in Might 2023 entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger’s behalf.
The Goncalves household, who has been outspoken in regards to the tempo of the authorized course of, welcomed the settlement for a trial date.
“We’re hopeful the trial stays in Latah County in order to not disrupt the scheduling order and we’re praying for no extra delays,” they mentioned in a press release. “We moved a little bit nearer to justice right now for Kaylee, Maddie, Xana and Ethan.”
An preliminary trial date was tentatively set for October 2023, as prosecutors mentioned they’d search the dying penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
However the proceedings have been placed on maintain when he waived his proper to a speedy trial and his protection staff sought to have the preliminary grand jury indictment dismissed. The decide denied the request, ruling that “Kohberger has did not efficiently problem the indictment on grounds of juror bias, lack of ample admissible proof, or prosecutorial misconduct.”
Kohberger has been held with out bail within the Latah County Jail.
A potential motive for the killings — in a school city that hadn’t seen a murder, a lot much less 4, in a number of years — remains murky.
A gag order was issued within the case final yr barring attorneys, police and different officers from making statements, however the public has gotten a glimpse of Kohberger’s alibi protection in court docket filings and in latest motions hearings.
His protection has mentioned that Kohberger, who was a graduate pupil residing in Washington state simply throughout the Idaho border, typically went on late-night drives, however that cellphone tower data would show that he had been doing so miles away on the time the 4 College of Idaho college students have been killed.
Prosecutors are anticipated to depend on DNA proof, cellphone use and surveillance movies to attach Kohberger to the crime.
In an affidavit following his arrest weeks after the killings, they mentioned he was linked to the scene via male DNA discovered on a knife sheath left on the victims’ house home. The affidavit additionally mentioned that safety video confirmed a white Hyundai Elantra noticed close to the scene, and that Kohberger drove the identical one.
