On Monday, prosecutors challenged a motion that seeks to have the University of Idaho quadruple murder trial moved out of the county where the 2022 slayings transpired.
Kohberger’s lawyers have cited the media attention surrounding the case and prospective juror surveys as to why the trial should be moved from Latah to Ada County. Prosecutors claimed that Ada County has been exposed to as much media coverage regarding the case as Latah County, according to KLXY.
Kohberger’s trial is scheduled to begin in June 2025. A hearing regarding the possible venue change is scheduled for August 29, according to the Idaho Statesman.
Kohberger’s attorneys have claimed Kohberger was not at the crime scene and was driving around alone the night Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Kaylee Goncalves were fatally stabbed at the women’s off-campus home on November 13, 2022.
Mogen was found dead in bed next to Goncalves, and a knife sheath was reportedly discovered near their bodies. Downstairs, on the second floor, Kernodle was found slain next to Chapin, her boyfriend. Two surviving roommates discovered the bodies and called the cops.
Police claimed Kohberger visited the area 12 times before the slayings and that he turned off his phone on the night in question.
Investigators tested DNA from a trash can outside Kohberger’s family home in Pennsylvania against DNA found on the sheath at the crime scene. Testing determined that “at least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father.”
At the time of the slayings, Kohberger was obtaining his Ph.D. in criminology from Washington State University, which is located 10 miles from the crime scene. He was arrested in Pennsylvania in December 2022, after taking a cross-country road trip with his father from Washington to Pennsylvania.
Prosecutors filed court documents detailing their intent to pursue the death penalty as they deemed the slayings were “especially heinous, atrocious, or cruel.”
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[Featured image: Bryan Kohberger listens to arguments during a hearing in Moscow, Idaho, on Thursday, Oct. 26, 2023. A judge has declined to dismiss a grand jury indictment against Kohberger, accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students. He is charged with four counts of murder in connection with the deaths at a rental house near the campus in Moscow, Idaho, last November. (Kai Eiselein/New York Post via AP, Pool)]
