Idaho murders suspect Bryan Kohberger’s lawyers ask judge to change court venue because he ‘can’t receive a fair trial in community’ where the four students were massacred in their home

Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger is seeking a change of venue, saying he can’t get a fair trial in the community where the killings took place.

The alleged killer’s public defender, Anne Taylor, asked Judge John Judge on Wednesday to schedule a hearing no earlier than the end of April to hear arguments about the possible move, the Idaho Statesman reported.

The attorney wrote, “A fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County due to the extensive, inflammatory pre-trial publicity, accusations made to the public about Mr. Kohberger by the media that will be inadmissible at his trial, the small size of the community, the prurient nature of the alleged crimes, and the seriousness of the charges Mr. Kohberger faces.”

But prosecutor Bill Thompson told the judge last week that he opposes a change of venue, arguing that Latah County deserved the chance to convene a jury because the crime occurred there.

Moving the trial elsewhere would not have a material effect on potential jurors’ familiarity with the case, he said, because it has already achieved national and international fame.

The former criminology doctoral candidate is accused of fatally stabbing Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Maddie Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20, on Nov. 13. Victims (L-R) Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen (on Kaylee’s shoulders) Ethan Chapin and Xana Kernodle

Kohberger denies the murders, but has not yet made a public statement. The Moscow house where the murders took place is pictured above before it was demolished

“It’s not Moscow, it’s not Latah County — it’s everywhere,” Thomson said. “So I don’t think a change of location is going to solve these problems.”

Kohberger, 29, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, is charged with four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves at a rental home near the university’s campus in Moscow, Idaho, last week. year.

Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty if he is convicted.

No trial date has been set after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial.

Prosecutors have pushed for a trial date this summer. But Taylor told the judge for Kohberger that a trial date in the summer of 2025 was realistic.

The judge decided to ‘percolate’ on when he would set the date, apologizing to the victims’ families for the delay, but saying he wanted to ensure the trial would only take place ‘once’, with no room for new processes.

‘My heart goes out to the victims. “I can’t even imagine the pain and sadness because they can’t really move on with this hanging on their heads, so I’m sorry,” he said.

Kohberger was arrested in December 2022 after police matched a DNA sample left at the scene to his father.

They were alerted by his car: a white Hyundai Elantra, similar to the one seen in the area the night of the murders.

He denies the murders, but has not yet made any public statement.

Last week, Kohberger saw his motion to dismiss the four murder charges denied. The application was rejected due to concerns about delays in the case.

His team previously filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, claiming in part that the jury was biased, that jurors were presented with inadmissible evidence and that they did not apply the proper legal standard when deciding whether to file charges.

The defense also previously revealed that they would dispute the idea that Kohberger’s DNA was left on the knife sheath at the scene, and also claimed that DNA from three other unidentified men was also found at the crime scene in Idaho.

Kohberger (far right) appeared emotionless in court last week when his request to dismiss the charges was denied

The house where four University of Idaho students were murdered last year was demolished Thursday, despite protests from some of the victims’ families

They are also demanding more information about how the FBI used DNA to create family trees that led them to Kohberger and his father before an early morning arrest in Pennsylvania nearly a year ago.

Kohberger, a former PhD student in criminology at nearby Washington State University, was arrested on December 30 during a raid on his parents’ home in Pennsylvania’s Poconos Mountains.

Detectives relied on genetic genealogy to build their case against him, using genetic genealogy to create a DNA profile from the DNA left in a knife sleeve at the scene.

The FBI tracked down Kohberger by tracing his distant relatives through genetic genealogy databases – and then secretly collected a sample of his father’s DNA to confirm his identity.

Police say they also compared Kohberger’s DNA to the knife sheath after his arrest.

Investigators also pieced together cellphone records and surveillance images that they say link Kohberger to the killings.