Idaho Stabbings Trial Will Be Moved After Defense Survey: ‘They’d Burn The Courthouse Down’

A judge on Friday granted defense attorneys’ request for a venue change in the high-profile trial of the man accused of fatally stabbing four University of Idaho students in their off-campus house in 2022.

Defense attorneys for Bryan Kohberger, the former criminology graduate student charged with four counts of murder in the brutal slayings of Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen, Xana Kermodle and Ethan Chapin, had argued a telephone survey showed residents speculating that people would “riot,” “burn the courthouse down” and possibly kill him if he was acquitted. On Monday, Judge John C. Judge agreed that Kohberger could not receive a fair trial in Latah County, where the killings took place, saying in court filings that local residents had been influenced by the widespread news coverage and social media speculation about the case, some of it “potentially prejudicial and false.”

The judge noted that Kohberger has been the subject of “extensive negative publicity” since his Dec. 30, 2022, arrest after investigators said his DNA was found on a knife sheath found at the crime scene. A not guilty plea was later entered on his behalf after he refused to speak at his arraignment.

The family of Kaylee Goncalves said on Monday they are “incredibly disappointed” with the ruling in a statement shared by their attorney with HuffPost.

“We have always felt that a fair and impartial jury could be found in Latah County and still believe that is where the trial deserves to be held to help the community heal,” said the family.

But some residents were afraid the community could be at risk of violent vigilantism if a jury ruled in Kohberger’s favor, according to some respondents to the telephone survey, which was conducted by social psychologist Bryan Edelman for Kohberger’s defense team.

Some respondents said they believed an acquittal would result in riots, an “uprising” and “anarchy,” and raised the possibility that people would exact “street justice” by killing Kohberger.

“Probably somebody would find him and take him out in their woods, hang him,” one person said. “Several would be on the hunt for him to make sure he gets what’s coming to him,” said another.

A vast majority of respondents said they believed Kohberger is guilty, Edelman reported. More than half or close to 50% of respondents said they believed the death sentence was appropriate.

Other respondents said a not guilty verdict would be shocking and devastating.

“I think that would just crush our community,” one person said.

“We would be very upset and disappointed and let down and confused,” another said.

The judge also cited practical concerns in his decision to change the venue.

There would be “safety and security” issues if the trial were to be held in the Moscow courthouse, along with logistical difficulties, and would strain the resources of court officials and law enforcement.

The judge has not yet said to which jurisdiction the trial will be moved.

Prosecutors last month objected to a change of venue, noting that while the survey included residents of Boise — the largest city in Idaho and 300 miles away from Moscow — it neglected to poll other nearby counties that could possibly have a lower percentage of case recognition.

Moving the trial to Boise, prosecutors said, would be inconvenient and expensive for court officials and witnesses who would have to travel hundreds of miles “only to face another jury pool with similarly high media exposure.” They also said that they believed immediate family members of the victims who are “constitutionally entitled” to attend the trial live closer to the Latah County courthouse than Boise.

The trial is currently set to begin next June.