(NewsNation) — Attorneys for Bryan Kohberger continued to push for a change in venue, asking the court to move his upcoming murder trial from the small town of Moscow, Idaho, to Boise.
Latah County Judge John Judge did not make a decision about whether to move the trial and said it would be one of the hardest decisions he has to make, pending more research.
Kohberger is charged with killing four University of Idaho students.
In a filing, Kohberger’s attorneys argued that heightened emotions around the case could result in a “mob mentality” if Kohberger were to be acquitted. This will be the second time his attorneys have requested the trial be moved.
Kohberger’s team brought forth witnesses to testify on how media coverage and public sentiment could impact potential jurors, even if they believed they could be impartial. One witness also suggested that the high level of public emotion around the case could put pressure on jurors who might worry their identity would get out and would not want to have to return to the community and explain why they voted to acquit him.
An attorney for the family of Kaylee Goncalves, one of the four students killed, told NewsNation’s Ashleigh Banfield that they want the case tried in Latah County.
Idaho college killings
In November 2022, college students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found dead in an off-campus house. Goncalves, Kernodle and Mogen lived in the house, while Chapin was staying with Kernodle, his girlfriend.
An autopsy report found all four had been stabbed to death, most of them having been asleep at the time. Two other roommates who lived in the house were not attacked.
The deaths shocked the small town, and investigators spent weeks trying to identify a suspect in the crime that did not appear to have an obvious motive.
Bryan Kohberger arrested
Kohberger was arrested at the end of December 2023 at his family’s home in Pennsylvania. Investigators used familial DNA to link Kohberger to DNA found on a knife sheath at the crime scene, along with other evidence, including his car.
Kohberger was a student at nearby Washington State University, where he was a graduate student in criminology. Investigators say his cellphone pinged near the home multiple times leading up to the deaths and on the night the four students were killed.
Kohberger’s defense team says he had no connection to the victims, and investigators haven’t offered any theories on what may have motivated the attack.
A trial date was initially set for October 2023, but after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial, it was pushed back until the summer of 2025.