Idaho Supreme Court rules on Bryan Kohberger’s request to dismiss grand jury indictment as he prepares to stand trial for the murder of four university students
- A request to drop the grand jury indictment was denied Tuesday
- The 29-year-old’s defense team argued that their client had been wrongly charged with first-degree murder and burglary.
- Kohberger was charged in connection with the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students
The Idaho Supreme Court has dismissed a preliminary investigation by public defenders of Bryan Kohberger that would have served to delay his quadruple murder trial.
The decision was made Tuesday after Kohberger’s attorneys urged the court to dismiss the grand jury indictment.
The 29-year-old Pennsylvania man is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022.
Kohberger’s attorneys argued that a grand jury of prosecutors wrongly indicted him on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
They argued that the standard for a grand jury to indict should be guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, rather than the lower standard of probable cause, pointing to interpretations of Idaho state law.
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a preliminary investigation by public defenders of Bryan Kohberger
The 29-year-old’s legal team had urged the court to dismiss the grand jury indictment on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary.
Kohberger’s legal team previously sought to have the charges dismissed due to inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct
The ruling did not provide any legal reasoning for the court’s denial of the appeal request. The document was signed by Melanie Gagnepain, clerk of the Idaho Supreme Court.
Although the appeal was dismissed, a separate request to seal the appeal was granted.
The pretrial appeal was the latest in a series of attempts to postpone the murder trial.
Kohberger’s legal team previously sought to have the charges dismissed on grounds including inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct.
In January, lead attorney Anne Taylor asked the court to postpone the trial until at least 2025.
Taylor argued that she was not given enough time to complete discovery or interview a sufficient number of witnesses.
Later that month, the defense filed a motion to move the trial out of Latah County, arguing that “inflammatory pretrial publicity” and the “small size of the community” made finding an impartial jury impossible.
A hearing on that request is scheduled for April 17.
The ruling did not provide any legal reason for the court’s denial of the request for appeal
Kohberger was charged in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students who were stabbed to death in their off-campus home in November 2022.
The former University of Washington PhD student (pictured in September 2023) is accused of entering the house in the early morning hours and killing the four roommates
Investigators said the crime scene was the worst they had ever seen, with blood dripping through the walls of the house
Kohberger was charged in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students who were stabbed to death in their off-campus housing on Nov. 13, 2022.
Prosecutors allege Kohberger entered the home in the early morning hours and killed 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin with a knife.
At the time, he was earning his doctorate in criminology from Washington State University, just across the state line from where the murders took place.
The victims’ surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were home at the time of the murders but unharmed. They were ruled out as suspects early in the investigation.
Police sources told DailyMail.com that the crime scene was the worst they had ever encountered, with so much blood seeping through the walls of the house.
Kohberger was arrested the following month at his family’s home in Pennsylvania, ending a nearly seven-week manhunt.
He was taken to Idaho to face the charges and indicted in May 2023.
The indictment allowed prosecutors to bypass a previously scheduled hearing in June where the surviving housemates could have been cross-examined.
Kohberger remained silent during his arraignment, forcing the judge to enter a ‘not guilty’ plea on his behalf.
The 29-year-old has since waived his right to a speedy trial. A trial date has yet to be set.