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Bryan Kohberger, left, looks toward his attorney, public defender Anne Taylor, right, during a hearing in Latah County District Court, Jan. 5, 2023, in Moscow, Idaho. A grand jury has indicted Kohberger on the charges in the University of Idaho slayings case. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren, Pool, File). Insets, top to bottom: Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, Ethan Chapin, Madison Mogen (provided to Law&Crime courtesy the Kernodle family).
Accused quadruple murderer Bryan Kohberger doesn’t want cameras allowed in the courtroom at his October trial and has asked the court to keep a gag order in place that a coalition of media organizations, including Law&Crime, has challenged as being “overly broad.”
Kohberger faces for four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary for the murders of Maddie Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle and Ethan Chapin last November. The four were stabbed to death, some as they slept, in a home near campus.
The former Washington State University Ph.D. student has pleaded not guilty and told Law&Crime through an attorney earlier this year that he is “eager to be exonerated.”
The case has captured the attention of people around the world. Media descended upon the small college town of Moscow, Idaho as the search for the murderer ensued. The case has also been discussed endlessly on social media.
Kohberger’s public defender, Anne Taylor, and Latah Co. Prosecutor Bill Thompson agreed almost immediately to a gag order following his arrest. The “non-dissemination order” bars anyone from the state or the defense from making statements outside of the courtroom.
Magistrate Judge Megan Marshall extended that order earlier this year to family members of the victims and their attorneys. Shanon Gray, an attorney representing Goncalves’ family, has asked the court to allow him to once again speak on their behalf.
Since the gag order was issued, law enforcement agencies have denied a number of public records requests for information that would typically be released. Law&Crime has filed a declaration outlining a handful of the requests that have been denied.
Kohberger’s attorneys have asked Judge John Judge to keep the gag order in place. They cite a recent episode of “Dateline” as an example of “biased and intense media coverage” that they claim featured a “leak” that got facts wrong. His lawyers went on to call some media outlets “a never ending circus of bad facts and worse opinions.”
Kohberger’s lawyers also cite research on media coverage by Jean Saucier of Truescope, a media intelligence company. Kohberger plans to call her as a witness Friday to testify about social media amplifying negative stories about Kohberger.
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The media coalition has asked that cameras be allowed in the courtroom for Kohberger’s upcoming trial. The court allowed cameras at Kohberger’s initial appearance in January and arraignment last month. The lawyers representing the media, Wendy Olson and Cory Carone, cite the trial of Derek Chauvin to support allowing cameras.
Chauvin was the Minneapolis police officer found guilty of 2nd degree murder in the death of George Floyd in May 2020. Floyd’s death sparked unrest in cities around the globe. In Minnesota, cameras are not allowed in the courtroom, but in Chauvin’s case, Judge Peter Cahill — who previously opposed cameras in the courtroom — allowed cameras to broadcast the trial because of its importance and the COVID-19 pandemic. As a compromise, Cahill limited how closely a camera could photograph Chauvin.
The media attorneys also cite the recent Idaho murder trial of Lori Vallow Daybell. Vallow Daybell was convicted of murdering her children, Tyler Ryan and J.J. Vallow, and conspiring to kill her husband’s late wife, Tammy Daybell. Judge Stephen Boyce banned cameras from the courtroom at Vallow Daybell’s request, but he allowed the release of audio of the testimony each day.
The media coalition argues that not allowing the pubic to view the Kohberger trial has raised doubts about the integrity of the judicial process. Kohberger, meanwhile, calls allowing cameras in the courtroom “a distraction” and says they “permit unfairly prejudicial coverage.”
Defense lawyers pointed to a social media post by Nancy Grace and an episode of Law&Crime’s Sidebar podcast in which Kohberger’s body language was analyzed. Kohberger called body language analysis “pseudoscience” and, like the prosecutors, also cited the Vallow Daybell case to support their argument against cameras. A pre-trial hearing that had a camera trained directly on Vallow Daybell led to her lawyers asking that cameras not be allowed.
For the state’s part, Latah Co. Prosecutor Bill Thompson is deferring to the court’s “sound discretion.” Thompson argues some witnesses may fear harassment and jurors might have off-hours access to arguments made outside of their presence.
He also pointed to a U.S. Supreme Court case, Estes v. Texas, which held that extensive broadcasting of proceedings can violate a defendant’s due process rights. However, he said suggested the court control the positioning and angle of cameras if they are permitted.
Law&Crime will cover Friday’s hearings. Attorney Shanon Gray’s motion to amend the gag order will be heard at 1:30 p.m. EDT/10:30 PDT. The Law&Crime Network will host a live Q&A on the case beginning at 1 p.m. EDT.
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