Bryan Kohberger defense warns ‘mob mentality’ justifies moving trial
- Kohberger faces four murder charges in Idaho college students' deaths
- If convicted, he could face the death penalty
- Family of slain Idaho student wants trial in Moscow
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(NewsNation) — Defense attorneys for Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students in 2022, warn that a “mob mentality” against their client justifies the need to move his trial out of Moscow and into Boise, Idaho, instead.
If Kohberger’s case ends in acquittal, “Outrage would be a mild description” and “They’d burn the courthouse down,” one resident reportedly told a defense expert in a phone survey of hundreds of potential jurors, according to documents obtained by Court TV.
However, Shanon Gray, an attorney for the family of victim Kaylee Goncalves, said the victims’ families want the trial to remain in Latah County, he told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield.
The trial for Kohberger is expected to start next June. A court hearing to discuss a potential change of venue is set for Thursday.
Kohberger faces four murder charges in connection with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. Authorities in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, arrested Kohberger, then a student at Washington State University, on Dec. 30, 2022.
Credit: @kayleegoncalves Instagram 
This July 2022 photo provided by Jazzmin Kernodle shows University of Idaho students Xana Kernodle, right, and Ethan Chapin on a boat on Priest Lake, in Idaho. Both students were among four found stabbed to death in an off-campus rental home on Nov. 13. (Jazzmin Kernodle via AP) 
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, appears at a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool) 
Heavy equipment is used to demolish the house where four University of Idaho students were killed in 2022 on Thursday, Dec. 28, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren) 
Bryan Kohberger, left, who is accused of killing four University of Idaho students in November 2022, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Thursday, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool) 
FILE – A flyer seeking information about the killings of four University of Idaho students who were found dead is displayed on a table along with buttons and bracelets on Nov. 30, 2022, during a vigil in memory of the victims in Moscow, Idaho. A suspect in the killings of four University of Idaho students was arrested in eastern Pennsylvania, a law enforcement official said Friday, Dec. 30. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, File)
While his trial was initially scheduled for October 2023, Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, pushing the date back.
If convicted, Kohberger, who entered a not guilty plea, could face the death penalty.
Investigators say they were able to link Kohberger to the crime using DNA found on a knife sheath found at the scene, surveillance videos and cellphone data. Meanwhile, Kohberger’s lawyers said in court filings that he was out driving alone on the night of the killings.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
