Judge in Idaho murder case rules on whether to toss Kohberger’s grand jury indictment

BOISE, Idaho — The district court judge in the University of Idaho murder case threw out all attempts by the defense to toss the grand jury’s indictment of defendant Bryan Kohberger, shutting the door on delaying a future trial on those grounds.

Judge John Judge of Idaho’s 2nd Judicial District in Latah County issued his written decisions late Friday denying the defense team’s request to dismiss the indictment on five separate legal grounds, including that the prosecution committed misconduct because it allegedly withheld evidence from jurors. Judge’s rulings were published to Idaho’s court website Monday morning.

At a hearing in October, Judge issued one oral ruling from the bench concerning the defense’s effort, quickly dismissing the argument from Kohberger’s attorneys that there was an error in the instructions given to the grand jury. The hearing was one of two held that day to consider a number of legal arguments posed by the defense, with the other hearing closed to the public to protect confidential information, as grand juries are an intentionally secretive judicial process.

On Friday, Judge issued his formal written ruling on that same argument. In a separate decision, he dismissed the defense’s request to discard the grand jury indictment on the remaining four arguments — each debated during the closed-door hearing. The defense had alleged prosecutorial misconduct, bias from the local grand jury, use of improper evidence and a lack of sufficient evidence to indict Kohberger in the killing of four U. of I. students.

Judge accepted none of the defense’s arguments.

“Kohberger has failed to successfully challenge the indictment on grounds of juror bias, lack of sufficient admissible evidence, or prosecutorial misconduct,” he wrote. “Kohberger was indicted by an impartial grand jury who had sufficient admissible evidence to find probable cause to believe Kohberger committed the crimes alleged by the state.”

He noted in the order that his ruling on these four grounds is to remain sealed, but provided the results of his decision “for the public’s benefit.”

Judge acknowledged having reviewed sealed grand jury transcripts, recorded audio and jury questionnaires to make his decisions. The defense also has access to that same information, he said in the filing.

Kohberger, who turned 29 last month, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary in the November 2022 homicides. He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The victims were U. of I. seniors Madison Mogen and Kaylee Goncalves, both 21; junior Xana Kernodle and freshman Ethan Chapin, both 20. Each was stabbed to death at an off-campus home on King Road in Moscow.

Kohberger, who at the time was a graduate student at Washington State University in Pullman, was previously scheduled to go to trial in early October. That was postponed after he waived his right to a speedy trial in August, delaying the legal proceedings indefinitely.