Trial date set in Bryan Kohbergers Idaho murder case, expected to last three months with death penalty phase

The trial against University of Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger will start next summer and last over three months long — in part because jurors will deliberate over the death penalty, according to new court filings.Kohberger — the 29-year-old man charged with butchering four college students inside their off-campus house on Nov.13, 2022 — is set to stand trial starting with jury selection beginning on July 30, according to a Wednesday scheduling order by Judge Steven Hippler.The case is expected to take through Nov.

7.The calendar was laid out by Hippler, a judge in Ada County, roughly a month after Kohberger’s lawyer successfully petitioned to get his trial moved out of sparsely populated Latah County.The lengthy trial is partially due to the fact that there will be two phases — one to determine Kohberger’s guilt or innocence to four counts of first-degree murder and felony burglary and a second phase, if he’s found guilty, to determine whether he should receive the death penalty.Prosecutors are seeking capital punishment in Kohberger’s case for the gruesome slayings of Ethan Chapin, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21, — claiming there are no mitigating factors to stop them from pursuing the harsher punishment that’s legal in the Gem State.Hippler also scheduled oral arguments for next month on whether the death penalty is appropriate in Kohberger’s case.In August, lawyers for Kohberger — a former criminology Ph.D.student at Washington State University — argued he couldn’t get a fair trial in the insular and small community of Moscow, Idaho, where the alleged killings took place.Defense attorneys presented the results of a survey taken of 400 locals in which 60% said they already believed Kohberger was guilty, another 52% said he should land on death row if convicted and others said they’d riot, burn the courthouse down or even trial to kill Kohberger themselves if he wasn’t convicted.Latah Coun...