Bryan Kohberger’s defense doubles down on moving Moscow murder trial to Boise

The defense for Bryan Kohberger, who is accused of the University of Idaho student homicides, rejected arguments from prosecutors that Moscow remains an acceptable place for the suspect to receive a fair trial next summer.

Elisa Massoth, one of Kohberger’s attorneys, continued the push to move their client’s capital murder trial 300 miles south to Boise. The North Idaho region has been tainted by intense media coverage of the case, she wrote, which has created a “mob mentality within the community” about Kohberger’s possible culpability. 

“The traumatized town of Moscow is understandably filled with deeply held prejudgment opinions of guilt,” Massoth wrote in a Monday court filing made public Tuesday. “Latah County mob mentality will never produce a (jury pool) that results in a cross section of the community.”

The defense backed its preference for a venue change to the Idaho capital for the trial with results from a phone survey conducted by a hired trial consultant. They supported it with analysis from a University of Nevada, Reno, social psychologist, whom they may also call as an expert witness at a court hearing next week over the venue change question before Judge John Judge. 

Kohberger, 29, is charged with killing the four U of I students at an off-campus home in November 2022. The victims were seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21, junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20. Kohberger was arrested on suspicion of the fatal stabbings in late December 2022 at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania, where he grew up.

Kohberger faces four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for Kohberger if he is convicted. A court hearing over possible challenges to the death penalty is tentatively scheduled for early November.

Prosecutors last week submitted their written opposition to the defense’s request to move the trial out of Moscow. Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, who is leading the prosecution of Kohberger, said the defense had failed to meet the burden under Idaho law to show that a venue change was “necessary or convenient.” 

“Even if the court were to be persuaded that a fair and impartial jury could not be empaneled in Latah County, the court could … draw upon a jury pool from a neighboring county,” Thompson wrote. He suggested selecting a jury from nearby Nez Perce County and driving them in for Kohberger’s trial. 

Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told the Idaho Statesman in an interview earlier this year that he doesn’t see the point of taking Kohberger’s trial elsewhere in Idaho. 

“My personal opinion is there’s no need to move the trial any place else, because everybody in the state knows about the broad strokes of what went on,” he said. “So that alone is not justifiable reason to move a trial to a different locale.” 

Although holding the trial in Moscow would come with the return of major effects on residents, Bettge said the city would be better prepared this time around for the arrival of media and others who may travel to attend in person. After so much heartache and adverse impacts following the students’ deaths, perhaps some local benefit could come from keeping Kohberger’s trial in town, he said.

“It’s a complete pain for the community, but there is an economic benefit to be realized if the trial were still here,” Bettge said.

Prosecutors argued last week that the “interest of justice” for keeping the trial in Moscow should consider the families of the four victims, who live nearby and may seek to attend the trial. Judge set a trial start date of June 2025. 

The parents of Kaylee Goncalves, who live about 30 minutes north of Coeur d’Alene in Rathdrum, have been the most vocal of four victims’ families during the pretrial phase of the case. Earlier this summer, their attorney issued a statement on behalf of the Goncalves family requesting that the trial stay in Latah County.

The defense responded in their filing Monday that prosecutors’ proposal to keep the trial in Moscow, but bring in jury prospects from the county directly south, still would be insufficient for achieving an impartial group of people to serve as jurors with their client’s life possibly on the line. Ada County, with its much greater population, grants Kohberger’s best chance at a fair trial, they wrote. 

“Expanding the jury pool to Nez Perce County is not a remedy,” the court filing read. They “have been exposed to 36% of the total media coverage and are more than 10 times more likely to encounter coverage as compared to residents of Ada County.” 

That media coverage — in print, online, as well as on television and the radio — “is often inaccurate and inflammatory,” the defense wrote, without providing specific examples. The sheer amount of coverage in the closely watched case is disqualifying of Moscow hosting the trial, they wrote.

“The media coverage inundating Latah County does not tell citizens that no evidence has been presented at this time; that there are no facts on the record at this time; that Bryan Kohberger is innocent,” Massoth argued in the filing. “Publicity regarding Mr. Kohberger has been ongoing since Dec. 30, 2022. It rises and falls but does not wane.”

Judge will hear oral arguments about a possible venue change on Aug. 29 at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow.