Attorneys for quadruple murder suspect Bryan Kohberger asked an Idaho judge for a change of venue Thursday, claiming the 29-year-old won’t get a fair trial in the county where he’s accused of slaying four University of Idaho students in 2022.
The trial is scheduled to get underway in Latah County in June, but defense lawyers have asked the court to move the highly publicized hearing to Ada County, where Boise, the state capital, is located.
They say it would be nearly impossible to find an impartial jury in Latah County, due to “inflammatory” publicity and a “mob mentality” among residents.
Kohberger has pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder in the grisly deaths of Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in at their off-campus home in Moscow in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022.
If convicted, Kohberger could face the death penalty result, though his team contends local residents “would probably find and kill” the defendant themselves if he’s set free, according to CNN.
“They’d burn the courthouse down,” his attorneys said. “Outrage would be a mild description.”
Locals in and around Boise, according to defense attorneys, might take the proceedings less personally.
Prosecutors maintain an impartial jury can be assembled in Latah County, but told the court that moving the trial to more nearby counties like Nez Perce or Kootenai could be an acceptable solution for people close to the case who would have a hard time making the commute to Boise, according to NBC News.
Kohberger was a criminal justice student at Washington State University in Pullman when he allegedly carried out the bloody massacre in Moscow less than 10 miles away, shortly before the Thanksgiving break.
He was arrested six weeks later after driving across the country with his father to the Kohberger family home in eastern Pennsylvania.
A knife sheath with DNA found at the crime scene helped lead investigators to Kohberger. No murder weapon has been found and a motive has not been put forward.
It doesn’t appear the suspect and the victims had a relationship.
Thursday’s hearing was filled with analysis of public opinion polls examining potential juror prejudices in Idaho counties where the trial might happen.
A decision on the change of venue hadn’t yet been reached by early Thursday evening.
