This summer, Bryan Kohberger, an Idaho Statesman, will go on trial.
The 30-year-old Kohberger’s public defense team claimed that the postponement was required to safeguard his constitutional rights, but Fourth Judicial District Judge Steven Hippler denied their motion Thursday to postpone the highly anticipated capital murder trial.
In his 20-page judgment, Hippler stated that the defendant argued that a continuance was required in order to adequately analyze pertinent discoveries and carry out a thorough and comprehensive analysis of mitigation material. However, if the trial goes forward as planned, there is no valid reason for the continuance or evidence of prejudice in the defendant’s materials.
Hippler signaled that they would probably go to trial during a brief hearing last week where he heard arguments from both sides. By simultaneously issuing an amended scheduling order that pushed out earlier dates for jury selection and the trial by one week, he reiterated that Thursday. Instead of August 11, opening statements are now planned for August 18.
Hippler said last week during the hearing that lawyers should make appropriate plans.
He concluded the half-hour public hearing in the Ada County Courthouse by saying, “I fully encourage everyone to continue as if the trial is going to take place when it is scheduled for.” Once more, I retain the ability to write down my final decision. As of right now, though, I would say that you are probably going to go to trial on the specified day.
In November 2022, Kohberger allegedly fatally stabbed four U of I freshmen in an off-campus residence in Moscow. He could be executed if found guilty of four first-degree murder charges and one burglary offense. Kohberger was a Ph.D. candidate in criminology and criminal justice at Washington State University, located just over the Idaho state line in Pullman, Washington, approximately 10 miles west at the time of the killings.
The victims were freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, junior Xana Kernodle, 20, and seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, all 21. Two female roommates who were physically unhurt in the early Sunday morning attack shared the Moscow residence with the three women. Chapin, Kernodle’s lover, spent the night with her.
After newly unreported case data were revealed in an episode of NBC’s Dateline, Kohberger’s main attorney, Anne Taylor, submitted a request last month asking for the long-awaited trial to be postponed. The court’s gag order was probably broken by the leaks. In court on Wednesday, Taylor further contended that they were not ready for trial because they had not had enough time to examine all of the remaining evidence, which she described as being extensive.
“This court has an obligation to ensure that Mr. Kohberger is given a fair trial,” she told Hippler, adding that a continuance might be the wisest course of action for the court to safeguard Mr. Kohberger.
However, prosecutor Josh Hurwit, a former U.S. attorney for Idaho, stated in court that a delay leaves the state at the mercy of the media. He also contended that the Idaho Supreme Court has determined that an unbiased jury may be seated even in cases that receive a lot of media attention. Hurwit noted that the defense doesn’t need to know every detail about its client in order to make a fair case because it has had enough time to prepare.
Are we going to keep the trial running forever, every time a new story breaks, a new book comes out, or a new documentary comes out? Hurwit argued. And that appears to be the risk associated with the defense’s request. It is referred to as a perpetual continuance.
Prosecutors plan to pursue the death penalty if Kohberger is found guilty by a jury during the trial. Since Kohberger was arrested in Pennsylvania in late December 2022 after a seven-week homicide investigation that involved several states and the federal government, his defense team has insisted on his client’s innocence.
