BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Attorneys for the man charged in the stabbing deaths of four University of Idaho students in 2022 say the pressure to convict is so severe that some Latah County residents are predicting lynch mobs or riots if he is acquitted.
Bryan Kohberger’s defense lawyer Elisa Massoth made that argument in a filing this month, saying the only way he can get a fair trial is to move it to a new location.
Second District John Judge is scheduled to preside over a hearing on the motion for a change of venue Thursday morning. If he agrees, the trial, set for June of 2025, could be moved from Moscow to Boise or another larger Idaho city.
Kohberger, a former criminal justice student at Washington State University, which is across the state line in Pullman, faces four counts of murder in the deaths of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves.
The four University of Idaho students were killed sometime in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, in a rental house near the campus.