MOSCOW, Idaho — The Washington State University graduate student accused of murdering four University of Idaho students won’t fight plans to extradite him to Idaho, his lawyer says.
Jason LaBar, the chief public defender in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, and the attorney representing Bryan Kohberger, a 28-year-old Ph.D. candidate in criminology from Pennsylvania, told the Idaho Statesman that Kohberger will waive his extradition rights at his court hearing Tuesday.
Kohberger, of Albrightsville, was arrested by Pennsylvania State Police about 1:45 a.m. Friday at a home in nearby Chestnuthill Township, which a prosecutor told The New York Times is the house of Kohberger’s parents. Waiving rights has to be done in front of a judge, LaBar told the Statesman on Saturday by phone.
The Statesman has reached out to Assistant District Attorney Michael Mancuso in Monroe County.
LaBar said in a statement that Kohberger is “eager to be exonerated of these charges.”
“Mr. Kohberger has been accused of very serious crimes, but the American justice system cloaks him in a veil of innocence,” LaBar said. “He should be presumed innocent until proven otherwise — not tried in the court of public opinion. One should not pass judgment about the facts of the case unless and until a fair trial in court at which time all sides may be heard and inferences challenged.”
He faces four state first-degree murder charges, according to Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson, for the fatal stabbings of Madison Mogen, 21, of Coeur d’Alene, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, of Rathdrum; junior Xana Kernodle, 20, of Post Falls; and freshman Ethan Chapin, 20, of Mount Vernon, Washington.
Kohberger also faces a felony burglary charge for entering their King Road home just off the Moscow campus on Nov. 13 with the intent to commit murder, Thompson said at a Friday news conference.
Kohberger enrolled in fall 2022 at Washington State University — which is roughly 9 miles from the University of Idaho — after completing a master of arts degree in criminal justice in May at DeSales University, which is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, not far from Albrightsville. WSU said in a statement that Kohbeger finished his first semester as a Ph.D. student in December.
The Seattle Times reported that after the murders, Kohberger attended classes and completed the semester.
Kohberger plans to ask for a public defender in Idaho
LaBar said by phone that once Kohberger is extradited back to Idaho, he plans to ask the court for a public defender.
“He does not have the funding to get a private attorney,” LaBar said.
LaBar said he reached out to Idaho Public Defense Commission to get an attorney “assigned as soon as possible.”
The commission did not immediately respond to a phone call Saturday
LaBar said he spoke to Kohberger and his parents, and because it is possible that Idaho prosecutors will seek the death penalty against Kohberger — which would increase the cost of trying the case — they wouldn’t be able to afford a private attorney.
The Latah County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has not said whether it will seek the death penalty. The office did not immediately respond to a phone call Saturday.
In Idaho, 29 attorneys have been approved by the Idaho Public Defense Commission to represent an individual in a capital punishment case, according to a list published by the commission in December. Under Idaho law, at least two attorneys have to be assigned to the defendant’s case.
Details of crime remain confidential
Officials investigating the crime have remained tight-lipped about what they know, insisting they must preserve the integrity of the investigation.
Thompson said at Friday’s news conference that an affidavit providing details of the killings and supporting criminal charges against Kohberger won’t be available publicly until sometime after Kohberger is back in Idaho and served with the Idaho arrest warrant.
“There’s a pending case now in court, and I and my office and the investigators have to live with the restrictions that our Supreme Court places on pretrial publicity,” Thompson said. “That said, I promise you we will share with you through the court process or otherwise whatever we are allowed to.”
“This is not the end of this investigation,” Thompson said. “In fact, this is a new beginning.”
———
