A judge has ruled that defense attorneys for a man charged in the deaths of four University of Idaho students can resume phone surveys of potential jurors in the case. The defendant, Bryan Kohberger, faces four murder charges in connection with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen, and Kaylee Goncalves.
The judge entered a not guilty plea on Kohberger's behalf, and prosecutors have indicated that they will seek the death penalty if he is convicted. Kohberger's defense team had hired a consultant to conduct surveys of potential jurors living near the university, asking questions related to the case, including details about Kohberger's arrest, his car, DNA evidence, and a knife sheath found near one of the bodies.
Prosecutors raised concerns about the surveys, arguing that they violated a gag order issued by the judge in the case. However, the judge ruled that the surveys could continue as long as they did not violate the gag order. The judge noted that most of the questions asked in the surveys were based on information already publicly available through court documents and therefore did not breach the order.
Questions about rumors and crime documentaries related to the case were initially not part of the public record but have since been discussed in open court, making them permissible for inclusion in future surveys, according to the judge.
The bodies of the four University of Idaho students were discovered at a rental home near campus on November 13, 2022. Kohberger, who was a graduate student at Washington State University at the time, was arrested more than six weeks later at his parents' home in eastern Pennsylvania.
