MOSCOW, Idaho — The judge overseeing the case of the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students is not happy with how the defense is surveying prospective jurors.
Bryan Kohberger, the 29-year-old murder suspect, and his attorney appeared in court Thursday afternoon to discuss the potential impacts of a survey conducted by the defense team. The state argued the questions on the survey were too specific and violated the current nondissemination order over the case, but the defense said it contracted with an outside company to do what she referred to as a common practice.
Kohberger's attorney also said she wasn't allowed to explain herself because Judge John Judge ordered the survey to stop before she could respond to the state's concerns about it.
According to Anne Taylor, Kohberger's lead defense attorney, the state filed a motion to prevent contact with potential jurors at approximately 4:30 p.m. on Friday, March 22. That motion prevented the defense from continuing to survey potential jurors in Latah County, which Taylor argued was a violation of Kohberger's right to due process.
However, the state said it felt the need to act quickly because of the contents of the survey.
Before filing the motion, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said his office received a recording of a phone call a Latah County resident received. According to Thompson, the phone call asked questions about the case that were meant to determine how much a resident knew about it.
The questions, Thompson argued, were extremely specific to the facts of the case, asking residents if they had "read, seen or heard" anything about it, including how or when Kohberger was arrested and if and where a knife sheath was found at the crime scene.
"We're getting ourselves back into a similar situation, baiting people who have no knowledge of this case with detailed information," Thompson said. "Some of which is completely false. And not only completely false but false in a sense that makes Mr. Kohberger look bad."
Taylor told the judge these types of surveys are commonly done in high-profile cases. She added the survey company she hired wrote the questions, which they created based on media coverage of this case.
The defense planned to run the survey in two additional Southeast Idaho counties. Taylor said they were selected due to the size of the courthouse, security available and large population, which would mean a large jury pool.
"I do not think that these survey questions related to, 'What have you heard in the media?' injected information to people," Taylor said.
The judge put a pause on the survey until both the defense and prosecution could meet to discuss it. Because he did not make any decisions in court Thursday, the survey will remain paused until the judge makes a ruling at the next hearing set for April 10.
Kohberger is charged with the first-degree murders of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen. The four were found stabbed in a home near the University of Idaho campus on Nov. 13, 2022. Kohberger was arrested one month later in Pennsylvania and has been in the Latah County Jail ever since.
Since his arrest, Kohberger has been indicted by a grand jury and chose to stand silent at his arraignment. Last year, the state of Idaho filed intent to seek the death penalty against Kohberger. His trial date has yet to be set.
DOWNLOAD THE KREM SMARTPHONE APP
DOWNLOAD FOR IPHONE HERE | DOWNLOAD FOR ANDROID HERE
HOW TO ADD THE KREM+ APP TO YOUR STREAMING DEVICE
ROKU: Add the channel from the ROKU store or by searching for KREM in the Channel Store.
Fire TV: Search for "KREM" to find the free app to add to your account. Another option for Fire TV is to have the app delivered directly to your Fire TV through Amazon.
Apple TV: Search "Spokane News from KREM" in the Apple store or follow this link.
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email webspokane@krem.com.