Bryan Kohberger’s attorneys appealed grand jury indictment to Idaho Supreme Court. It ruled
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday denied a pretrial appeal from attorneys representing Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four University of Idaho students. The appeal stood to delay his murder trial further if granted.
Kohberger’s public defenders had argued that a grand jury sat by prosecutors for the case improperly indicted their client on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. They contended that Idaho law left open the idea that grand jurors must reach the higher legal standard of beyond a reasonable doubt — the same as at trial to convict a defendant — rather than the longstanding threshold of probable cause to indict.
In the one-page Supreme Court ruling issued Tuesday afternoon, the justices offered no legal rationale for their denial of the motion to appeal from Kohberger’s attorneys. The document was signed by Melanie Gagnepain, clerk of the Idaho Supreme Court.
The appellate case is now closed, state courts spokesperson Nate Poppino told the Idaho Statesman.
The justices took just over a month to dismiss the appeal after Kohberger’s attorneys filed under seal in early February. Prosecutors opposed the appeal, also under seal, on Feb. 20.
Kohberger, 29, is accused of stabbing the four U of I students to death at an off-campus home in Moscow in November 2022. The student victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20.
Kohberger, at the time a graduate student at nearby Washington State University, faces the death penalty if convicted by a jury. He was arrested at his family’s home in eastern Pennsylvania in late December 2022, which ended a nearly seven-week national manhunt, and brought to Idaho to face the charges.
A trial date has yet to be set after Kohberger last year waived his right to a speedy trial.
Goncalves family: ‘This is no surprise’
The judge overseeing the Kohberger case, Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District in Latah County, twice since December denied the defense’s request to toss the grand jury indictment on several legal grounds, including the argument over the standard that needed to be met. He also denied in February the defense’s request for permission to appeal the issue to the Idaho Supreme Court.
Under Idaho appellate rules, attorneys may still appeal a lower court judge’s denial within 14 days. Prosecutors have objected to throwing out the grand jury’s May indictment of Kohberger since his defense lodged the challenge.
On Tuesday, the Goncalves family, through attorney Shanon Gray, told the Statesman by email that Tuesday’s ruling was what they had anticipated.
“This is no surprise. No one thought the Supreme Court was going to grant interlocutory appeal,” the Goncalveses said, using the legal term for a judgment in the middle of other court action.
The Goncalves and Kernodle families issued a previous statement earlier this month taking aim at the speed of the process to bring the man accused of killing their daughters to trial. They implored the justice system to “start making some decisions, get to work and quit playing the delay game.”
“We want communication, we want efficiency in prosecution, we want a court that will make timely decisions and we want a fair trial,” the statement read. “This illusion by everyone involved that they can control what happens is frustrating. A jury will hear the evidence and return a verdict. But we need to get there sooner rather than later.”
Kohberger is next scheduled to appear in court May 14 for arguments over his attorneys’ push for a change of venue for trial. Prosecutors oppose moving the trial out of Latah County, asserting that doing so is “premature and without sufficient basis.”
