MOSCOW, Idaho — The Idaho Supreme Court denied an appeal request made by the man accused of stabbing four University of Idaho students to death in November 2022. However, the court granted his request to hide the contents of his motion.
On Feb. 8, attorneys representing Bryan Kohberger asked the Idaho Supreme Court to appeal Latah County District Court Judge John Judge's decision not to toss Kohberger's grand jury indictment in the quadruple murder case.
In addition to the "motion for permission to appeal from interlocutory orders," they filed a separate motion seeking to seal his request - with a "motion to seal defendant's motion for permission to appeal from interlocutory orders."
The Idaho Supreme Court denied the first motion, essentially rejecting Kohberger's request to review something that the district court had already denied. However, the court granted the request to seal, according to a single-page court document provided by the Idaho Supreme Court.
Kohberger's attorneys argued the indictment should have been thrown out due to inaccurate grand jury instructions. They argued the standard for a grand jury to indict should be "beyond a reasonable doubt" rather than "probable cause."
They also sought to have the indictment dismissed due to what they referred to as a biased grand jury, inadmissible evidence, a lack of sufficient evidence and prosecutorial misconduct.
After the district judge denied the attorneys' multiple attempts to have the grand jury indictment thrown out, court records revealed that Kohberger's attorneys then went to the Idaho Supreme Court.
When Judge asked for an update on that permissive appeal during Kohberger's hearing on Feb. 28, the state confirmed it filed an objection to Kohberger's motion to appeal.
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday also granted the state's request to seal their objection.
Background:
Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Madison Mogen. The four students were found stabbed to death in a house on King Road, near the University of Idaho campus in Moscow, on Nov. 13, 2022.
In early January, Judge heard motions to dismiss the grand jury indictment against Kohberger, as well as a motion to appeal the indictment to the Idaho Supreme Court. The judge ultimately denied those motions. It was at that time both the prosecution and defense tried to schedule a date for a trial in 2025, but that date still has not been set.
Later in January, the defense filed a motion to move the trial out of Latah County. In court filings, Kohberger's attorneys argue a fair and impartial jury cannot be found in Latah County due to the case's "extensive, inflammatory pretrial publicity" and the "small size of the community," even in the case of extending the jury pool.
A hearing is scheduled for May 14 where the judge will hear the argument regarding Kohberger's request to move the trial out of Latah County.
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