OAN Staff Abril Elfi
3:22 PM – Friday, June 27, 2025
An Idaho judge says he won’t postpone the murder trial of Bryan Kohberger, the 29-year-old man accused of killing four University of Idaho students, and has rejected the defense team’s request to present evidence suggesting possible “alternate perpetrators.”
On Thursday, Fourth District Judge Steven Hippler ruled that the jury selection is set to begin in August, while opening arguments will likely be held around August 18th.
The judge also rejected a request from Kohberger’s lawyers to present the jury with theories of four “alternate perpetrators,” writing that evidence presented by the defense is “entirely irrelevant.”
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“Nothing links these individuals to the homicides or otherwise gives rise to a reasonable inference that they committed the crime; indeed, it would take nothing short of rank speculation by the jury to make such a finding,” Hippler wrote in the order.
Defense attorney Anne Taylor had requested the judge to postpone the proceedings.
She said that starting the trial this summer would violate Kohberger’s right to a fair trial, in part because his defense team was still evaluating material and struggling to obtain possible witnesses to agree to be examined.
Taylor also stated that excessive publicity could taint the proceedings, and that a cooling down period would help assure an impartial jury.
However, Hippler expressed that interest in the case has only grown, and that prior delays have allowed the media even more opportunity to “provide coverage to a public audience which is clamoring for answers.”
Kohberger is currently awaiting trial on multiple counts of first-degree murder, and one count of felony burglary related to the deaths of the four students who were all murdered in the same home.
The victims were identified as Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20.
According to the probable cause affidavit, investigators tied him to the murders by using DNA evidence found on a knife sheath that was left at the scene, which was located in the bed where Mogen and Goncalves were found dead.
The affidavit also states that during the course of investigating Kohberger’s prior phone location pings, authorities found that at least 12 times before November 13, 2022, his cell phone’s location was in the same vicinity of the 1122 King Road residence, where the murders occurred.
Kohberger has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and his trial was originally set for October 2nd of 2024. However, it was later delayed due to the suspect waiving his right to a speedy trial.
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