Will Kohberger murder trial changing venues make a difference?

( NewsNation ) — Bryan Kohberger ‘s murder trial being moved out of Moscow, Idaho will give him a better shot at a fair trial with an impartial jury, legal experts say.

His ask for a venue change came as no surprise to legal experts as the move is often used by defense attorneys in high-profile cases so that their client can get a bigger pool of jurors who may not be as intimately familiar with the case as a local jury, Richard Blok, an Idaho criminal defense attorney told NewsNation.

As a defense attorney, “you want the jurors to see the defendant for the first time in their suit, sitting next to defense counsel, right? That wasn’t going to happen in Moscow or anything even remotely approaching it,” he said.

“That’s the whole game of a change of venue.”

Latah County Judge John Judge granted Kohberger’s defense team a venue change Monday after they requested the trial be moved from the small town of Moscow, arguing the small jury pool was likely tainted by pretrial publicity.

Judge stated several reasons behind his decision to allow Kohberger to change jurisdictions including hardship on the local courthouse staff and the massive publicity of the case making it hard to find impartial jurors in the small local pool.

“Despite efforts by the parties and the Court to protect the jury pool from being inundated with information that is potentially prejudicial and false, extensive media coverage by mainstream media sources such as newspapers, radio stations, and television news outlets has continued throughout the state and nationally,” Judge wrote in his order.

Kohberger faces four murder charges in connection with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho. Authorities in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, arrested Kohberger, then a student at Washington State University, on Dec. 30, 2022.

He is eligible for the death penalty if convicted.

The stakes are high and a jury with less bias could make a difference for Kohberger, NewsNation Legal Analyst Sara Azari said of the venue change. She said a motion for venue change is rarely granted so this is a “big deal” for the defense team.

“The lack of bias in a jury could very well make a difference,” she said.

“But on the other hand, or on the flip side, if the evidence is really overwhelming against Kohberger, it really doesn’t matter if the case is tried in Boise, Idaho or on Mars.”

While Idaho has precedent for bringing in a jury from outside rather than changing venues, the judge probably didn’t do that in this case due to the logistics of where Moscow is, Blok said.

The jury would have to go over a mountain range, he said. The area is not an easily accessible place so it’s easier for the judge and the lawyers to move than a jury, he said.

While it’s unclear where the trial will be moved, most legal experts say the likely place is Ada County, where Boise sits and the population is much greater.

The Idaho Supreme Court will decide the new venue.

Shanon Gray, the attorney representing the family of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves, said that a change to Ada County would be “ an incredible inconvenience. ”

“It’s six hours away and it’s a completely different world over there,” he said. “It ends up being you have to move over there for a month. You can’t come back and forth. They (the victim’s families) have children they have to care for, they have family members that will want to be over there. All the witnesses, most of them are around Latah County, so it would be a massive inconvenience.”

Gonclaves’ family says they will not view the venue change as a “win” for the defense team.

“This isn’t the end. This isn’t the end of the road. This is not over,” Gonclaves’ mother Kristi said.

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