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The lawyer representing the only suspect in the brutal slayings of four University of Idaho students in the town of Moscow in November has multiple ties to the victims’ parents.
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Cara Northington, the mother of victim, Xana Kenodle, 20, was represented by Bryan Kohberger’s lawyer Anne Taylor on drugs charges until January 5, the same day the suspect was extradited to Idaho.
Court records obtained by Inside Edition now show that Taylor, the Chief of Kootenai Public Defender’s Office, represented Madison Mogen‘s stepmother, Korie Hatrock, on drugs charges as recently as June 2022. Taylor also oversaw a case in involving Mogen’s father, Benjamin, in 2020.
On December 30, police arrested Kohberger, a PhD student in criminology at Washington State University in Pullman, eight miles from the Moscow residence.
He’s accused of viciously stabbing Kenodle and Mogen, as well as Kaylee Goncalves and Ethan Chapin. The suspect was arrested on December 30 in his parent’s home in Pennsylvania and was extradited to Idaho on January 5.
Court records obtained by Inside Edition now show that Anne Taylor, the Chief of Kootenai Public Defender’s Office, shown here, represented Madison Mogen’s stepmother previously
Madison Mogen’s father, Ben, and stepmother, Korie Hatrock, pictured together in August 2020
Ben Mogen was sentenced to 90 days in prison after pleading guilty to charges in 2020. While Hatrock pleaded guilty to possession of an illegal substance but it’s unclear if she served any prison time.
Some speculate that Taylor’s appointment to represent Kohberger was one of necessity because in the small county, there was not an abundance of qualified public defenders.
Taylor is one of just 13 public defenders in Idaho approved by the state’s public defense commission to lead a capital punishment case. She’s also the only one in all of North Idaho.
The chief public defender’s role is responsible for planning, implementing, coordinating, directing, and evaluating activities and programs of the Public Defender’s Office, according to a previous job advertisement for the role in Idaho.
Bryan Kohberger is the only suspect in the slayings of Madison Mogen and her three friends in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13
Taylor has been in the role since June 2017. At the time of her appointment, she told the Couer d’Alene Post Falls Press, ‘It’s such necessary work. It’s important to make sure Constitutional rights apply to everybody. You help people who are facing horrible times. I love the work.’
The piece mentions that Taylor was a graduate of Idaho State University and the University of Idaho. Following graduation, Taylor spent five years working in the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office.
California Appellate and litigation lawyer Matthew Barhoma told DailyMail.com that Taylor seems to want to work on the case with Kohberger – describing it as an ‘odd and unique’ situation.
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He said, ‘Taylor had many prior dealings with the mother on multiple occasions and that heightens the conflict. You have to assume she received no confidential information from the mother that could bleed into this case.
‘And then you have to question if you can do the job impartially, and it could affect Bryan who may not have a replaced attorney.
‘It is an inherently difficult issue with no clear-cut answer and is a gray area. However if it were me, I would recuse myself from the case.’
Taylor is seen with her 28-year-old client on January 5. He was a PhD criminology student at Washington State University, eight miles from the murder scene
Victims: pictured, the four Idaho students who were stabbed to death during the early morning hours of November 13. Ethan Chapin (center right), Xana Kerndole (right), Kaylee Goncalves (lower left) and Madison Mogen (upper left)
Taylor is seen with Kohberger on January 5 – the day Taylor stopped representing Northington
Xana Kenodle’s mother has claimed that she gave Taylor power of attorney during her legal troubles because of her drug addictions and is unsure what happens next in her case.
Northington says that she ‘trusted’ the lawyer to help her, and is unsure if she even has new representation.
She added that she feels ‘betrayed’ by Taylor, and felt that she had been ‘abandoned by prosecutors’ who knew Kohberger studies at WSU – where Xana’s sister Jaszzmin attends.
Northington, who has long battled addiction, said she only found out that Taylor was representing her daughter’s accused killer when a friend saw it on social media and told her.
It was unclear why a liaison officer from the Victim and Witness Coordinator team had not gotten in touch.
Barhoma explained that it is ‘plausible’ that Taylor only became aware of the conflict after taking the case – but believes that it ‘would have come out earlier’.
He added: ‘There is a substantial conflict of interest, despite removing herself from the mother’s case, she should get herself off Bryan’s case too.’
Kohberger was arrested on December 30 by a SWAT team at his parents home in Pennsylvania as they moved to search his apartment at Washington State University.
He has previously indicated that he believes he will ‘be exonerated’, with his family unable to pay for him to have private representation.
