- A motion to dismiss the grand jury indictment was denied Tuesday
- The 29-year-old’s defense team argued that their client was wrongly charged with first-degree murder and burglary.
- Kohberger was charged in connection with the November 2022 murders of four University of Idaho students
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The Idaho Supreme Court rejected a pretrial appeal by Bryan Kohberger’s public defenders that would have served to delay his quadruple-murder case.
The decision was made Tuesday after Kohberger’s attorneys urged the court to throw out the grand jury indictment.
The 29-year-old Pennsylvania man is accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November 2022.
Kohberger’s attorneys argued that a grand jury empaneled by prosecutors improperly indicted him on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated burglary.
They argued that the standard for a grand jury to indict should be guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, rather than the lower standard of probable cause, pointing to interpretations of Idaho state law.
The Idaho Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a pretrial appeal by Bryan Kohberger’s public defenders
The 29-year-old’s legal team had urged the court to throw out the grand jury indictment on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated burglary
Kohberger’s legal team previously sought to have the indictment dismissed on grounds of inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct
The ruling did not provide any legal justification for the court’s denial of the request to appeal. The document was signed by Melanie Gagnepain, Clerk of the Idaho Supreme Court.
Although the appeal was dismissed, a separate motion to seal it was granted.
The pre-trial appeal was the latest in a series of attempts to delay the murder trial.
Kohberger’s legal team previously sought to have the charges dismissed due to inadmissible evidence and prosecutorial misconduct, among other claims.
In January, lead defense attorney Anne Taylor asked the court to delay the trial until at least 2025.
Taylor argued that she had not been given enough time to complete discovery or interview a sufficient number of witnesses.
Later that month, the defense filed a motion to move the trial out of Latah County, arguing that “inflammatory pretrial publicity” and “the small size of the community” made it impossible to find an impartial jury.
A hearing on this request is scheduled for April 17.
The ruling did not provide any legal justification for the court’s denial of the request to appeal
Kohberger was charged in connection with the November 2022 stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students at their off-campus home
The former University of Washington PhD student (pictured in September 2023) is accused of entering the house early in the morning and killing the four roommates
Investigators said the crime scene was the worst they had ever witnessed, with blood dripping through the walls of the house
Kohberger was charged in connection with the slayings of four University of Idaho students who were stabbed to death in their off-campus residences on November 13, 2022.
Prosecutors allege Kohberger entered the residence early in the morning and killed 21-year-old Kaylee Goncalves, 21-year-old Madison Mogen, 20-year-old Xana Kernodle and 20-year-old Ethan Chapin using a knife.
At the time, he was pursuing a Ph.D. in criminology at Washington State University, just across the state line from where the murders took place.
The victims’ surviving roommates, Dylan Mortensen and Bethany Funke, were home at the time of the murders but were unharmed. They were ruled out as suspects early in the investigation.
Police sources told DailyMail.com the crime scene was the worst they had ever come across, with so much blood seeping through the walls of the house.
Kohberger was arrested at his family’s home in Pennsylvania the following month, ending a nearly seven-week manhunt.
He was brought to Idaho to face the charges and indicted in May 2023.
The indictment allowed prosecutors to bypass a previously scheduled June hearing where the surviving roommates could have been cross-examined.
Kohberger remained silent during his arraignment, forcing the judge to enter a “not guilty” plea on his behalf.
The 29-year-old has since waived his right to a speedy trial. A trial date has not yet been set.