The highly-anticipated trial of Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, has been set for June 2025 and is expected to last for three months.
The 29-year-old criminology PhD student returned to court for a scheduling hearing on Thursday where Latah County Judge John Judge proposed the summer date.
Both the prosecution and the defense agreed that it’s reasonable to set the trial during the summer when school is on break because of the proximity of Latah County Courthouse to the local schools.
However, Kohberger’s defense attorney Anne Taylor reminded the court that they object to the trial being held in Latah County and said they plan to submit a motion to change the venue. Taylor has previously said that she does not believe that Kohberger would get a fair trial in Latah County.
The attorneys also discussed deadlines for submitting evidence that would be used in the sentencing phase if Kohberger is found guilty. Latah County prosecutors said a year ago that they intend to seek the death penalty if Kohberger is convicted.
Kohberger is charged with the murders of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin, who were stabbed to death on November 13, 2022, in Moscow, Idaho.
Police linked Kohberger to the murders that rocked the college town through DNA found on a knife sheath, cell phone data, an eyewitness account, and his white Hyundai Elantra. He was arrested six weeks after the murders.
In may 2023, Kohberger declined to enter a plea prompting Judge to enter his plea as not guilty on his behalf.
Last month, the defense argued that prosecutors had not handed all the evidence over for them to review and have filed multiple motions to compel the state to do so.
Prosecutors insisted they are doing all they can to share evidence but have been partly delayed by federal rules, due to the FBI’s involvement in the investigation.
This evidence in question is said to include dashcam footage, video and audio recordings of a white sedan close to the crime scene in Moscow, as well as lab testing results – information police used to arrest Kohberger.
But Kohberger claims to have an alibi for the time of the murders: that he was driving around looking at stars and was in Pullman, which is about eight miles west of the off-campus student home at 1122 King Road home, where the slayings unfolded.
Earlier this year, Kohberger’s attorneys filed a motion to dismiss the murder charges against him, citing a biased grand jury, inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct. But Judge denied the motion.
