Idaho murder suspect seeks delay of trial after poll says city will 'burn down the courthouse' if acquitted

By Jean Casarez and Zoe Sottile, CNN

(CNN) — A hearing on Thursday will determine whether the trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, will be moved from Latah County. His lawyers say an unbiased jury could not be seated there for the long-awaited trial.

The hearing is the latest event in a two-year legal battle to bring Kohberger's case before a jury. The trial has already seen numerous preliminary hearings and victims' families have complained about the slow pace. The trial, in which Kohberger could face the death penalty, is currently scheduled for June 2025.

Kohberger has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.

Attorneys for Kohberger, 29, argued in a lawsuit that the trial should be moved out of Latah County because a “mob mentality” threatened the safety of their client and the courthouse. They hope to move the trial more than 300 miles away to Ada County, home to Boise, the state's capital and largest city.

“The traumatized city of Moscow is understandably full of deep-rooted, prejudicial guilt,” the defense wrote.

The defense claims that anonymous residents of Latah County, where the murders took place, told defense experts in telephone surveys that if Kohberger is not convicted, they would:

• “They would burn down the courthouse. Outrage would be a mild description.”

• “They would probably find him and kill him.”

• “There would probably be a riot and he wouldn't last long outside because someone would give the good old boy his just punishment.”

His defense argued that the prosecution recognized that there was “an enormous problem with the venue” and that Kohberger had “a constitutional right to a fair trial before an impartial jury.”

Media coverage of the Latah County case is the highest in the state, and the reporting is “often inaccurate and inflammatory,” the defense's complaint says.

His lawyers said the survey found that the more media reports a juror was aware of, the more serious the prejudgment was.

The defense's argument is based on research conducted by defense expert Bryan Edelman of the consulting firm Trial Innovations in four Idaho counties, including Latah, where the Moscow murders took place, and Ada County.

Edelman surveyed 400 residents in Latah County about their knowledge and biased opinions on the case. Truescope, a media monitoring company, also examined the media coverage available to residents of Moscow and Boise, but was unable to determine how much untraceable media reached Idaho residents in those cities via YouTube, TikTok, Facebook or podcasts.

The filing states that while respondents in Latah County said there would be outrage in the community if Kohberger was not convicted, respondents in Ada County said community members would “go on with their lives as usual” and “take it in their stride.”

The defense also argued that Moscow does not have the appropriate facilities to hold a three-month trial with a large media presence, citing the transfer of venue to Ada County in high-profile cases such as the murder trials of Lori Vallow and Chad Daybell. Vallow was sentenced to life in prison and her husband Daybell was sentenced to death for murdering Vallow's two children and Daybell's first wife.

Prosecutors, however, argue that a fair and impartial trial can take place in Moscow and that media coverage of the case is not limited to Latah County. They criticize the survey results, saying they show that “Latah County residents who have heard about the case are, overall, statistically less inclined to prejudge the defendant.” In addition, other strategies could be used to ensure a fair and impartial trial, such as assembling a large number of jurors and thoroughly vetting them, prosecutors say.

According to the prosecution, moving the trial hundreds of kilometers away would be inconvenient for both the witnesses and the families of the victims.

Four college students killed in the night

The case stems from the murders that occurred on the morning of Sunday, November 13, 2022. Police in Moscow, Idaho, were called to a home near the University of Idaho and found the bodies of four students: Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Ethan Chapin, 20; and Xana Kernodle, 20. All four had been stabbed to death.

The murders – and the subsequent manhunt for a suspect – shocked the small university town of Moscow and sparked fears for the safety of students and possible further attacks.

Kohberger, then a doctoral student in the School of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Washington State University, was arrested at his parents' home in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, on December 30, just over a month after the murders.

Law enforcement tracked down Kohberger in part by linking him to a white Hyundai Elantra seen in the immediate vicinity of the murders. His DNA also matched DNA found in a tan leather knife sheath that was “on the bed” of one of the victims, court documents state.

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