The judge hearing the case of Bryan Kohberger, charged with killing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus housing in 2022, kept in place an order barring attorneys from both sides from contacting potential jurors — for now.
Kohberger, 29, was in court for the hearing on Thursday as his attorney argued that Judge John Judge shut down her phone surveys, being conducted for her motion for a change in venue, without giving her adequate opportunity to respond, KREM reported.
Judge slapped the no contact order in place last month after prosecutors requested it when residents received the phone calls and contacted law enforcement about them. Kohberger’s attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, objected to the order, saying the questions were standard and based on information already out in public and that the order violated Kohberger’s due process.
In court Thursday, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson said the questions asked were extremely specific about the facts of the case, asking whether residents had “read, seen, or heard” information about things like how or when Kohberger was arrested and whether a knife sheath was found at the crime seen.
Thompson said the questions violated a gag order put in place barring both sides from discussing the facts of the case in public and that the questions were “baiting people who have no knowledge of this case with detailed information.”
“Some of which is completely false,” Thompson said. “And not only completely false but false in a sense that makes Mr. Kohberger look bad.”
Taylor said she didn’t think the questions “injected information into people.”
Judge decided to keep the order barring both sides from contacting potential jurors in place until the two sides could meet to discuss the questions. Another hearing is set for April 10, when he intends to make a ruling.
According to KBOI, Judge said he has no issue with a survey but he is “Not happy about the questions that were asked.”
Kohberger is charged with the murders of Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, and Kaylee Goncalves. He was arrested six weeks after the November 2022 slayings at his parents’ home in Pennsylvania.
A trial date has not been set.
See CrimeOnline’s coverage of the University of Idaho murders.
