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How the Trial of Bryan Kohberger Will Unfold

Newsweek US

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January 19, 2024

The murders of four University of Idaho students shocked the nation. Now the man accused of their lethal stabbings finally looks set to face a jury

- SEAN O'DRISCOLL

How the Trial of Bryan Kohberger Will Unfold

NO OTHER MURDER CASE ATTRACTED AS MUCH public interest in the past year as the lethal stabbings of four University of Idaho students in a rented, off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, in November 2022.

The early investigation into the deaths of Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Ethan Chapin, 20, and Xana Kernodle, 20, was on an enormous scale. Nearly seven weeks after the horrific killings, Bryan Christopher Kohberger was arrested at his parents' home in Albrightsville, Pennsylvania, and extradited to Idaho, where he was charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary.

The trial of Kohberger, who was a PhD student in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, just eight miles from Moscow, was scheduled for October last year. It was postponed indefinitely in August after Kohberger waived his right to a speedy trial. It is now expected to be held this year at the Latah County Courthouse in Moscow and likely to run for at least two months. Here is what we know about the upcoming trial.

The Judge

If ever there was proof of psychologist Carl Jung's theory of nominative determinism-that people are drawn to professions that fit their name-it's Judge John Judge.

Judge Judge, as he is referred to in Idaho legal circles, has been the Latah County magistrate since October 1, 2008, and was reelected with nearly 90 percent of the vote in 2014.

"Judge Judge loves his work, his family, and his life. When he is not working, he is playing outside," according to a profile on the Idaho Judicial Council website.

The Allegation

Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of November 13, 2022, Kohberger broke into an off-campus home on King Road in Moscow and stabbed the four students to death.

Newsweek reached out to Kohberger's lawyer, Anne Taylor, via email for comment.

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