The upcoming June 26 evidence hearing on the murder case against Bryan Kohberger is a first step in what could be a very long court process, according to law experts.
Kohberger sits in the Latah County Jail without bail as he and his public defenders prepare for the June hearing. This could last through June 30.
Kohberger is charged with four counts of murder and felony burglary after allegedly breaking into the home at 1122 King Road in Moscow, just off campus, in the early morning hours of Nov. 13 and stabbing Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin to death.
Kohberger, at the time a Washington State University doctoral student in criminology, was arrested in Pennsylvania on Dec. 29 and brought to Moscow a few days later.
the evidence hearing
The June evidence hearing will lay out all the information available and decide if there is a case to stand on, according to Samuel Newton.
“It’s kind of a check on the police to make sure they just don’t bring frivolous cases,” Newton, assistant professor of law at UI’s law college, said. “They have to take it in front of the judge and the judge determines, yeah, you know, is there enough to charge this person?”
Newton is a criminal law specialist and teaches several courses at the law college. He also served as a prosecutor and a defender in both Montana and Utah.
“In the June hearing, the state will have to put on witnesses,” Newton said. “There’ll be some testimony, and that’s where a judge decides yes or no.”
According to Newton, the point of this hearing is not to determine guilt or innocence, but to determine if the trial can go forward.
This evidence trial is also where a possible change of venue may be decided.
Change of venue
If the judge rules that there is enough content to move forward with the case, one of the lawyers can then file for a change of venue, where the trial is moved to another location. This is usually done because of a worry about having a fair jury for the defendant in the trial.
“The defendant is not entitled to a jury that knows nothing about the case,” Newton said. “They are entitled to a jury that’s fair. So, jurors can know about the case, they just can’t have pre-formed opinions.”
However, that leads to a lot of strain being put on those involved in the trial. All the attorneys and witnesses, as well as the judge, would have to travel to the new trial location and be put up in that city for the length of the trial.
“It adds all sorts of costs to the state to try a case in a place where it didn’t happen,” Newton said.
the death penalty
According to Idaho State Code, the prosecution has up to 60 days after the defendant enters a plea to decide if they will pursue the death penalty.
If the death penalty is pursued, there may be quite some time between the evidence hearing and the trial, according to Newton.
“There may be all sorts of investigations that need to happen for the death penalty,” Newton said. “You’d have to investigate the defendant’s life and history.”
Newton says it may even take years before the case goes to trial, due to the extra research.
According to Idaho State Code, the death penalty must be warranted, as decided by a unanimous jury, and if even a single person votes against it, the sentence reverts to life in prison. This occurs during a special sentencing proceeding after the jury hands down a guilty verdict.
“It requires the defense to put on a trial that says, here are all the reasons you shouldn’t give this person death from their life, and the prosecution has to show that here all the bad things this person has done in their life and why they deserve to die,” Newton said.
This research has probably already started, according to Wendy Olson, a former prosecutor and current partner at Stoel Rives, a civil litigation firm based in Boise.
“Law enforcement likely is interviewing as many people as they can who knew Kohberger over the last several years,” wrote Wendy Olson in an email interview. “They likely also will obtain as many records of what he was doing, including records from social media, records from educational institutions and jobs, and records from prior interaction with law enforcement.”
Olson was a former U.S. attorney for Idaho, as well as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice.
“There likely will be a number of prosecutors, two to four,” Olson wrote. “The prosecutors will have to assess what specific charges the evidence proves,… Their immediate task is to assemble evidence for the preliminary hearing set in June where the judge will determine whether there is probable cause.”
Abigail Spencer can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @ABairdSpencer