The defense team of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students more than a year ago, has filed a motion for a change of court venue.
According to court documents, Kohberger has requested a jury pool outside of Latah County. His defense team cites that a fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County because of the “extensive, inflammatory pretrial publicity, allegations made about Mr. Kohberger to the public by media that will be inadmissible in his trial, the small size of the community, the salacious nature of the alleged crimes, and the severity of the charges Mr. Kohberger faces.”
The defense team also explained that enlarging the size of the jury pool will not be enough to overcome the prejudicial publicity because Latah County does not have a large enough population to avoid bias in the community.
They also cited that “the size of the community and the interconnectedness of its citizenry is problematic and will prevent a fair and impartial pool of potential jurors.”
The defense is requesting an opportunity to be heard through evidentiary presentation and argument by the end of April.
No official decision has been made yet.
Ben DeWitt can be reached at [email protected] or on X @BenDeWitt321