Idaho prosecutors asked a judge to reject, at least partially, student murder suspect Bryan Kohberger’s request to give his family priority seating at his upcoming trial — arguing in part that relatives may be called as witnesses.
Deputy Latah County Prosecutor Ashley Jennings wrote in a court filing asking Judge Steven Hippler to exclude any potential witnesses in Kohberger’s family from attending the trial prior to giving their own testimony.
“The State may call member(s) of the Kohberger family to testify at trial,” she wrote. “Prior to start of the trial, the State anticipates it will motion the Court, or the Court will on its own accord, generally exclude testifying witnesses from the courtroom so that they cannot hear other witnesses’ testimony.”
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While victims’ relatives have guaranteed legal rights, there is nothing that gives the same to an accused killer’s family, Jennings argued.
“Defendant requests that members of his family be granted the same rights as the victim’s families,” Jennings continued. “However, the ‘immediate families of homicide victims’ have constitutional and statutory rights to attend pursuant to [the] Idaho Constitution…There is no comparable constitutional or statutory provisions affording a defendant’s family these same rights.”
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Kohberger’s defense lawyers asked for his family to be included in a list of people to receive priority seating earlier this month, after prosecutors submitted a list of the victims’ relatives to the court.
Defense attorney Elisa Massoth claimed that excluding them would violate his Sixth Amendment rights. But Jennings shot down that logic.
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“The Defendant has a constitutional and statutory right to a ‘public trial,’ but that does not extend to Defendant’s choosing whom sits in the courtroom,” she wrote.
The 30-year-old former criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University is accused of driving to the neighboring University of Idaho and killing four students.
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The victims were identified as Madison Mogen, 21, Kaylee Goncalves, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Ethan Chapin, 20. At least two were incapacitated and unable to react at the start of the 4 a.m. home invasion stabbings, according to court documents.
Police found a Ka-Bar knife sheath under Mogen’s body that allegedly had Kohberger’s DNA on it. Prosecutors have also alleged that surveillance video of a suspect vehicle and Kohberger’s phone records help place him at the scene.
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The defense did not object to the presence of the victim families in court, but Kohberger’s lawyers took a swipe at the Goncalves family by asking the judge to ban people from wearing clothing with the victims’ faces on it in court.
Another judge entered not guilty pleas on Kohberger’s behalf at his arraignment in May 2023, to four counts of first-degree murder and one of burglary.
Trial is scheduled to begin on Aug. 11 in Boise after a change of venue.
Kohberger could face the death penalty if convicted.
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