On Thursday, June 26, Ada County Judge Steven Hippler published his decision on the June 18 hearing. At the hearing, the defense team for Bryan Kohberger requested to delay the trial further. Hippler denied the request.
Despite Hippler’s decision that the trial would continue as scheduled, the estimated trial date has been moved from Aug. 11 to Aug. 18. Next on the schedule are a series of sealed — non-public — hearings July 28 through Aug. 1. Jury selection will begin on Aug. 4, a change from the previous date of July 30, and will continue until a jury has been chosen.
Kohberger, the man accused of killing University of Idaho students Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin in 2022, and his defense team requested a continuance, citing an overabundance of data to review, a need to gather a “life history” of Kohberger and the large amount of publicity surrounding the trial.
In his decision, Hippler wrote that the defense has not provided enough evidence that these claims, if true, would significantly impact the trial.
The defense was unable to specify what relevant evidence has not yet been reviewed, Hippler wrote, other than “all of the thousands of tips provided to law enforcement” following the homicides. Anne Taylor, Kohberger’s primary attorney, reportedly claimed that these tips could lead to potential other suspects.
In the private meeting on June 18 that followed the public hearing, Hippler heard the defense’s suggestions of alternate perpetrators. The defense reportedly identified four individuals as potential suspects, according to the order published June 26.
According to the order, three of the four suspects were “socially connected” to one or more of the victims and interacted with one or more before the homicides, lived nearby the crime scene and were familiar with the layout of the King Road house. The fourth did not know the victims, but had considered talking to one of the victims at a store about five weeks before, but never actually talked to her.
All four individuals cooperated with law enforcement and gave DNA samples, fingerprints and other information. Lab testing revealed that none were connected to the DNA found at the crime scene.
Hippler ruled that this was not enough to pursue the alternate perpetrator theory in the trial, but that the defense could still cross-examine law enforcement officials about their investigation.
Regarding the media publicity, Hippler decided that delaying the trial further would not decrease the publicity. “The longer the public is made to sit and wait for the facts to come out at trial, the more time there is for inflammatory, speculative stories, movies and books to circulate,” he wrote.
The defense was also reportedly concerned that there may be “leaks to the media,” referring to the May 9 NBC Dateline episode that claimed to have information from sources “close to the investigation” that, if true, are not publicly available.
Additionally, a book about the murders by thriller author James Patterson is scheduled to be released on July 14, which promises to “have some answers” and is based on more than 300 interviews, including some from law enforcement. Amazon Prime is set to release a four-part docu-series on the homicides on July 11. The series claims to be “told in captivating, tense and emotionally wrenching detail by only those involved in and affected by the crime.”
The defense said that someone may have broken the non-dissemination order, which blocks those involved in the case from speaking to the media about the case, to provide this information. Hippler decided that there was not enough evidence that this was the case.
Without solid evidence of unreviewed material and press coverage affecting the fairness of the trial, Hippler ruled that it will not be delayed more than the estimated date of Aug. 18.
“This trial cannot be held hostage indefinitely,” Hippler wrote.
Dakota Steffen can be reached at [email protected].