Contentious hearing in University of Idaho murder case features debate over trial date

Sally Krutzig
·3 min read
1

The judge overseeing the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, once again failed to set a trial date Wednesday at a hearing in the case.

Attempts to pin down the trial’s start at the Latah County Courthouse hearing quickly turned contentious, with the defense team arguing that more time was needed than what prosecutors wanted to offer because of the “huge volume” of discovery evidence expected from the state.

Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom for a September hearing in Latah County Court.
Bryan Kohberger, right, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, is escorted into a courtroom for a September hearing in Latah County Court.

Second District Judge John Judge and Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson wanted to set March 3, 2025, as the beginning of the trial, but Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s lead public defender, said that wasn’t feasible. She suggested the trial begin in June 2025.

“Not only do we have a huge volume of information, the way I’m getting it is completely disorganized,” Taylor said in court. “And it’s like if you wanted to play 52-card pickup with 100,000 decks of cards and throw them in the air, and I have to go figure out how to put them together.”

The law requires both sides to turn over evidence or relevant information that could be used in trial through discovery, which is “designed to prevent a ‘trial by ambush,’ where one side doesn’t learn of the other side’s evidence or witnesses until the trial,” according to the American Bar Association.

Taylor said the prosecution has not been quick to provide her with the information she has requested. She cited a number of supposed instances, including that multiple discovery reports referred to X-rays taken, but when she asked for them, the prosecution told her they didn’t exist.

Thompson said at Wednesday’s proceeding that the prosecution has turned over “more than 95%” of discovery material to the defense.

Judge ultimately agreed to Taylor’s request that he not set a trial date until he decides whether or not to move the trial out of Latah County, a decision he said he hopes to make in May. Kohberger’s defense team made a motion for change of venue at a Jan. 31 hearing, making the claim that an impartial jury could not be found in the county where the killings occurred.

Judge set a hearing for change of venue arguments for 2:30 p.m. Mountain time on May 14 at the Latah County Courthouse.

The four victims in the mass killing at the University of Idaho pose for a photo with their two roommates. At top left is Madison Mogen, 21, who is on the shoulders of Kaylee Goncalves, also 21. Ethan Chapin, 20, has his arm around Xana Kernodle, 20, his girlfriend.
The four victims in the mass killing at the University of Idaho pose for a photo with their two roommates. At top left is Madison Mogen, 21, who is on the shoulders of Kaylee Goncalves, also 21. Ethan Chapin, 20, has his arm around Xana Kernodle, 20, his girlfriend.

Kohberger, 29, was arrested in late 2022 in the stabbing deaths of four students in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, and junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20.

Kohberger, a graduate student at the time at Washington State University in Pullman, was arrested about seven weeks later at his parents’ eastern Pennsylvania house. He waived extradition and agreed to go to Idaho to face the charges. He has been held at the Latah County Jail without bail since Jan. 4, 2023.

Members of Goncalves’ family were in the courtoom Wednesday.

“Feeling anxious about tomorrow, but our family will continue to show up for EVERY court date,” a Facebook page run by the family posted on Tuesday. “The Goncalves Family will remain strong and united. We will NEVER give up. Thank you to EVERYONE!!! You give us the strength and courage to continue this battle.”