The judge in Bryan Kohberger‘s Idaho murders trial has agreed to move the proceedings in yet another blow to the victims’ families.
Kohberger had asked for a change of venue, citing the impossibility of an impartial jury in the county where the murders happened.
His lawyers said he’d be ‘lynched’ if he ended up being acquitted in Latah County.
Judge John C. Judge has granted his request and it will now be up to the state’s Supreme Court to determine where the trial, scheduled for June, 2025, will take place.
The decision is the latest setback in the long drawn out proceedings.
The victims were brutally killed in November 2022.
The judge in Bryan Kohberger ‘s Idaho murders trial has agreed to move the proceedings in yet another blow to the victims’ families
Idaho police said the four University of Idaho students were murdered in their sleep between 3am and 4am (Pictured: Victims Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin)
The Goncalves family had expressed their wish that the trial remained in Moscow.
‘I have total faith in the people of this community. They’re not biased. They’re gonna figure it out,’ Kaylee’s father Steve Goncalves told NewsNation.
In his decision, Judge Judge said ‘The Latah County courthouse itself poses significant issues for a trial of this length and magnitude.’
He also cited ‘extensive negative publicity surrounding Kohberger.’
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, which is across the state line in Pullman, faces four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
His defense team sought the change of venue, saying strong emotions in the close-knit community and constant news coverage will make it impossible to find an impartial jury in the small university town where the killings occurred.
Prosecutors argued that any problems with potential bias could be resolved by simply calling a larger pool of potential jurors and questioning them carefully.
Judge John C. Judge has granted Kohberger’s request and it will now be up to the state’s Supreme Court to determine where the trial, scheduled for June, 2025, will take place.
‘The traumatized town of Moscow is understandably filled with deeply held prejudgments of guilt,’ Kohberger’s defense said in a filing, claiming that if he is freed residents would ‘burn the courthouse down – outrage would be a mild description.’
To bolster their arguments for a change of venue, the defense said they conducted a phone survey of residents that found over 98 percent were aware of the case, and 67 percent believed Kohberger is guilty.
They claimed that Latah County residents told pollsters that if Kohberger is not convicted, they ‘would probably find and kill him.’
‘There would likely be a riot and he wouldn’t last long outside because someone would do the good ole’ boy justice,’ another anonymous resident said, according to the defense.
In a legal filing, the defense claimed that ‘prospective jurors who have been exposed to prejudicial pretrial publicity enter the courtroom with case-specific knowledge gleaned from the media, social media, and discussions with friends, family members, and co-workers.’
Kohberger was taken into custody in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, a small town in the heart of the Poconos Mountains more than 2,000 miles from where the gruesome killings took place
‘Uncovering the full extent of jurors’ case-specific knowledge and opinions in high-profile cases can be extremely difficult,’ they said.
However, prosecutors countered that the ‘change of venue (is not) going to solve any of these problems.’
‘The state’s position on venue is that the case should be held here. It’s a Latah County case. We believe that we can select an appropriate panel of jurors from Latah County,’ Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said at an earlier hearing.
The hearings on the trial’s venue have caused delays and infuriated the families of the victims, who have accused Kohberger and his attorneys of deploying repeated delaying tactics to try and postpone the trial.
The trial is currently scheduled for June 2025 but could well face being pushed back again, depending on any upcoming rulings sought by Kohberger’s attorneys.
Kohberger’s team brought in media monitoring expert Todd Murphy, who testified over the level of media exposure Latah County has received over the infamous slayings.
He testified that Latah County has received more exposure to the killings than Ada County, where the trial may have been moved to.
Murphy added that while national stories may continue to receive interest during the trial, pre-trial hearings such as this one often see a significant uptick in interest in local news.
Boyfriend and girlfriend Ethan Chapin (left) and Xana Kernodle (right) were slain in bed together in the gruesome murders in November 2022
The families of the victims have shared their frustration at the unending delays, with the mother of Kaylee Goncalves (left, with Madison Mogen) saying: ‘It’s gut-wrenching how slow everything has to go. Why does this have to be so drawn out?’
Prosecutors maintained that any prejudgment among the jury pool could be mitigated through screening and widening the number of prospective jurors.
Latah County prosecutors say they intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted over the four slayings.
Kohberger has maintained his innocence since his arrest in December 2022, over a month after the murders that shocked the nation – with his attorneys insisting they ‘absolutely believe’ he did not commit the crimes.
The month-long search for the alleged killer led to widespread media attention, with the families of the victims using the spotlight to condemn the proceedings against Kohberger.
In December 2023, the mother of victim Kaylee Goncalves said the ongoing process has been ‘gut wrenching.’
‘It’s gut-wrenching how slow everything has to go. Why does this have to be so drawn out?’ Kaylee’s mother Krisi said in an interview with KHQ.
‘It’s important, I get it, but there are facts, we have certain facts, we have certain knowledge. I can’t believe that this is how it works.’